Two police officers in Marshall, Missouri have been accused of fabricating reports about a shooting in 2015.
Saline County Prosecuting Attorney Donald Stouffer on Monday dropped three felony charges against Carl C. Roettgen, who was accused of trying to kill a police officer, according to The Columbia Daily Tribune.
Stouffer made his decision after watching video footage of the incident. He also said that the officers' supervisor backed the false story.
The prosecutor wrote to Marshall Police Chief Michael Donnell that he will not file any case in which either of the two officers, Tyler Newell and Josh O’Bryan, has a major role and that he will review other cases.
"It is inconceivable that there is an apparent belief among some members of the command staff that the outcome of a criminal case is more important than taking action to prevent Marshall police officers from presenting testimony, under oath, that is ‘questionable at best’ and suborning perjury at worst," Stouffer said in a statement.
On May 13, 2015, the officers went to arrest Roettgen at Wal-Mart in Marshall on a parole violation warrant. Newell said in his statements that after a passenger jumped out of the suspect's vehicle as he was trying to drive off, he got in the car to try to put it in park.
Newell said that Roettgen then pointed a gun at his face and he heard a click. O'Bryan said in the report that he was on the driver's side of the vehicle and saw a gun.
Stouffer noticed inconsistencies in the officers' accounts after he began to prepare for the trial slated for late August.
"After hours spent examining the video, trying to reconcile the video with the two officers' statements, and consulting with staff, I reached the difficult conclusion that no reasonable juror could find the officers' accounts credible," he said.
