CLAYTON — A longtime Hillsdale employee was charged Wednesday after a Fox 2 photojournalist was run over in August with a public works truck.
, 57, was charged with driving in a careless and imprudent manner, causing an accident. The maximum sentence for the misdemeanor is a $2,000 fine and a year in jail. The case is being prosecuted by ºüÀêÊÓƵ County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office First Assistant Prosecutor Jessica Hathaway.
Longmeyer is accused of running over Fox 2 photojournalist Wade Smith on Aug. 11 with Hillsdale’s top city official, Dorothy Moore, in the passenger seat.
After being run over in Hillsdale, Smith had serious injuries, including emergency surgery for a broken tibia bone. the photojournalist planned to start physical therapy next month.
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Police reported Longmeyer told them he saw Smith and Fox 2 reporter Mitch McCoy by the vehicle, but court records show Longmeyer proceeded to drive at an “excessive speed.†The incident report cited by Fox 2 states Longmeyer told police he saw Smith on the ground, but claims he was unaware the Fox 2 photojournalist had been hit. The city employee was reportedly arrested and released, Fox 2 reported.
Longmeyer’s next court appearance is Nov. 21.
He’s been employed by the village since 1996, according to Post-Dispatch salary database records. Not quite as long as Dorothy Moore’s reign, who identifies as mayor, but legally is deemed chair of the Board of Trustees. She’s run the city since the 1970s.
Fox 2’s McCoy and Smith were attempting to talk to Moore about Hillsdale’s towing policies after receiving complaints from residents in the village of about 1,200 people in North ºüÀêÊÓƵ County. Residents reached out to the news outlet about the increased burden of the local administration’s sudden increase in parking tickets and vehicle towing.
Moore refused to answer questions from reporters outside the municipality’s Village Hall, and Fox 2 reported Moore told Longmeyer to drive away. One of the city truck’s trailer wheels hit Smith, who was recording, in the back of the leg causing him and his camera to collapse to the ground.
Hillsdale police were present, prompting a call to Velda City police to investigate due to conflict of interest. Velda City police Chief Daniel Paulino, who is also the city’s administrator and records clerk, did not immediately respond to request for comment on Wednesday.
He previously told a Post-Dispatch reporter “please stop wasting my time†when asked about the incident.