Indictment Dismissed Against Minnesota State Trooper Involved In Fatal Crash
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A judge has dismissed a grand jury indictment against a Minnesota State Trooper who was charged with manslaughter for a fatal crash last year.
Court documents say Trooper Scott Reps was going nearly 100 miles per hour responding to a motorcycle accident in Cannon Falls on July 4, 2014 when his squad car broadsided another vehicle that failed to yield as it was pulling out of a parking lot. The couple inside that car -- Norman and Geneva Scott -- died instantly and Reps was seriously injured.
A judge dismissed the indictment on Thursday, saying Reps' rights were violated when he was coerced into giving a statement under threat of termination, which was later used against him.
Court documents say a State Patrol lieutenant told prosecutors "it would be a policy violation for a trooper to invoke his or her Fifth Amendment rights." Reps later provided a report on the crash, which was used as evidence in a December grand jury hearing against him. The judge ruled that Reps' was coerced into filing this report, thus violating his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
