An Imperial man has been charged with a felony for reportedly running away after he was involved in an accident on Aug. 31 near Valles Mines that left his passenger dead.
Richard Allen Smole, 40, of Imperial was arrested Sept. 1 and charged the next day with leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident involving death, a class D felony punishable by up to seven years in prison, court records say.
Amanda M. Pfingsten, 37, of Imperial died in the crash, which occurred about 8:10 p.m. at Papin Road and Hwy. V north of Valles Mines, the Missouri State Highway Patrol report said.
Pfingsten, who was not wearing a seat belt, was the passenger in a westbound 1988 International 1954 trash truck when the vehicle ran off the right side of the road, struck a stop sign, hit a ditch, overturned and ejected her, according to the report. The truck was totaled.
Pfingsten was pronounced dead on the scene at 8:38 p.m. and transported by Superior Mortuary Services to the St. Louis County Morgue, the report said.
According to witnesses, before Smole ran from the scene, he said he was wanted on warrants.
He also said, “That’s my lady stuck in the truck.”
A Milwaukee’s Best beer can was found pinned between the steering wheel and the driver’s seat, the probable-cause statement in the case said.
On Aug. 31, the owner of the trash truck told highway patrol troopers that the couple lived in an RV on his property and Smole sometimes drove the truck, the report said.
At 8:55 p.m. Sept. 1, troopers returned to the property and found Smole, who said he was going to turn himself in but he needed to talk to his attorney first, according to the report.
He was placed under arrest and taken to the hospital to determine whether he was fit for confinement.
While there, he reportedly admitted he was the driver of the trash truck at the time of the crash, the probable-cause statement said.
Smole was being held Tuesday in the Jefferson County Jail on a $20,000 cash-only bond, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Grant Bissell said.
Smole has prior felony convictions for leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident, possession of a controlled substance and failure to pay child support, court records say.