HILLSDALE, Mo. – A Hillsdale employee is facing charges after a FOX 2 photojournalist was run over with the village’s top leader in the passenger seat.
Earl Longmeyer, 57, is accused of operating a motor vehicle in a careless and imprudent manner, according to court records filed Wednesday.
Records show Longmeyer works in the village’s Public Works Department.
The FOX Files saw Dorothy Moore’s vehicle parked in front of Village Hall. Moore is the mayor or, in her official title, the Chair of the Board of Trustees.
While the police chief claimed Moore was not at Village Hall, FOX Files investigators heard them talking inside.
Moore went out the back door, climbing into the public works truck as the FOX Files team tried to ask questions.
She slid into the passenger seat of the truck while Longmeyer got behind the wheel.
As questions were asked, the public works employee put the truck into drive and started to drive away.
FOX 2 photojournalist Wade Smith was accidentally run over by the trailer attached to the truck, and the camera hit the ground. An accident report obtained by the FOX Files alleges Moore told the Hillsdale employee to drive away.
St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell said there’s no evidence that the intent was to harm.
“This is nothing I’ve ever seen in the five years now that I’ve served as county prosecutor—and 16, 17 years before that as an attorney,” St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell said.
An ambulance took Smith to the hospital for emergency surgery, and he is now at home recovering.
Smith hopes to start physical therapy next month.
Operating a motor vehicle in a careless and imprudent manner is a Class A misdemeanor. The sentencing range for the misdemeanor is up to a year in jail and/or a fine.
Longmeyer is scheduled to be in court in November.
FOX 2 has reached out to the Village of Hillsdale for comment, but we have not heard back at the time of this publication.
