Jun. 3—WILKES-BARRE TWP. — A several week old puppy was saved by a Wilkes-Barre Township police officer during a traffic stop that involved the driver running away on foot early Monday morning.

The puppy was found stuffed face down in a rear seat compartment of a Ford Escape after Barry Shadeen Beal, 40, of Main Road, Hanover Township, was captured following a foot chase in the area of Coal Street and Reno Lane in Wilkes-Barre, according to court records.

Police said the puppy was taken to an animal hospital in Plains Township.

The incident began as a township officer was patrolling Wilkes-Barre Township Boulevard and conducted a license plate check on a passing Ford Escape that pulled into Sheetz at about 1 a.m., court records say.

The officer noticed the driver of the Ford, identified as Beal, stopped at a gasoline island.

The license plate check allegedly returned a result that Beal did not have a driver’s license, court records say.

After Beal exited the service station, the officer initiated a traffic stop.

Beal turned onto Coal Street and briefly stopped, court records say, until he accelerated as the officer on foot was approaching the Ford.

The officer returned to his cruiser to pursue Beal who eventually stopped on Coal Street.

Beal was seen turning and reaching inside the Ford and ordered out to get on the ground, court records say.

As Beal was on the ground, court records say, he got up and initiated a foot chase until he gave up on Reno Lane.

Police in court records say they found a pipe commonly used to smoke crack cocaine and syringes inside the Ford.

After Beal was placed in the rear seat of a cruiser, he advised an officer that a puppy was in the back seat area. When the officer went to retrieve the puppy found stuffed in a seat compartment, Beal allegedly tossed drug paraphernalia out the cruiser’s window.

Beal was arraigned by District Judge Michael Dotzel of Wilkes-Barre Township on charges of cruelty to animals, evading arrest, driving without a license, failure to yield to emergency vehicle and two counts each of possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was jailed at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility for lack of $2,500 bail.