PROSECUTORS IN KENTUCKY have dropped assault charges against world number one golfer Scottie Scheffler, who was arrested after a traffic incident outside the US PGA Championship earlier this month.
Jefferson County Attorney Mike O’Connell lodged a motion in court to dismiss all charges against Scheffler and the judge in the case agreed.
O’Connell told the court that the evidence against Scheffler doesn’t meet even the lower standard of probable cause need for a charge to be prosecuted.
“Therefore based on the totality of the evidence my office cannot move forward in the prosecution of the charges filed against Mr Scheffler,” O’Connell told the court.
He said the golfer’s assertion that the incident stemmed from a misunderstanding “is corroborated by the evidence.”
On 17 May, Louisville police handcuffed Scheffler and arrested him outside Valhalla Golf Club after he tried to go around a traffic jam as police investigated an earlier fatal accident.
Police said Scheffler’s vehicle accelerated and dragged a police officer, who had injuries that required hospital treatment.
However, Scheffler stopped when he was directed to and has called the incident “a huge misunderstanding,” his lawyer Steve Romines has said.
Scheffler was released in time to play the second round and finished the PGA Championship in a four-way tie for eighth place.
Written by AFP and posted on TheJournal.ie
