McDonald County Prosecutor releases statement on dropping of charges in fatal hit and run case

Prosecutors have dropped charges in a deadly hit-and-run crash in McDonald County.

Last month, the McDonald County Prosecutor’s Office abruptly dropped “leaving the scene of a deadly crash” charges against 53-year-old Gloria Trejo.

On Friday, a special statement was released by McDonald County Prosecuting Attorney Meleia Chaney about the dropping of charges against a defendant in a fatal hit and run case that took the life of a pedestrian, Michael Pruden on November 2.

The statement reads as follows

“While I typically do not make public statements related to specific cases and/or officers, I will make a brief statement to clarify the misinformation in the community regarding the hit and run in Noel, MO.
  “The Prosecutor’s office reviewed and filed charges against a single defendant, upon receipt of a probably cause statement from a Noel officer.
  “However, within the following week our office received additional follow-up on the investigation which showed that the officer had made a false statement in the probable cause affidavit which would likely affect the probable cause affidavit which would likely affect the case outcome.

Chaney continued:

  “The Prosecutor’s office will never proceed in a case in which we find we’ve been given untruthful information, nor will we proceed in a case where we are not confident that we have it correctly charged.
   “The prosecutors and other law enforcement have met with the officer and have suggested further investigation and evidence that would be needed for us to pursue charges. Once we receive that information, we hope to file charges related to this incident.”

The false information reportedly concerned specifics about a shard of lens used to identify Trejo’s vehicle that was found at the scene of the accident.

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