LEBANON, Mo.- A man from Maine has been charged after telling law enforcement he intentionally hit a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper Wednesday morning.
Court documents say 27-year-old Galen B. Sailer has been charged with first-degree assault, armed criminal action, and leaving the scene of an accident.
On Wednesday, Ozarks First reported the trooper was struck by a vehicle on the 127-mile-marker on I-44 near Lebanon.
According to a probable cause statement from the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Trooper Stauffer was hit and sent out a call to other troopers that he needed emergency backup at a Waffle House in Lebanon. Stauffer stated on Highway Patrol radio that he had been hit by a silver Honda Fit that fled behind a motel nearby.
The PC statement says Stauffer was transported to a hospital in Springfield and was diagnosed with a fractured pubic bone.
According to court documents, officers with the Lebanon Police Department found the silver Honda Fit near a truck stop. Officers made contact with the driver, Sailer, and arrested him.
A detective with Lebanon PD interviewed Sailer. The detective asked him if he intentionally hit Stauffer and Sailer said yes.
During an interview with Stauffer, the PC statement says he was there checking on a stranded motorist when Sailer passed him driving over the speed limit. The trooper pulled Sailer over, and Sailer turned into the Waffle House parking lot.
“Trooper Stauffer indicated he asked the driver what was wrong and the driver began saying his brother was killed by a police officer. According to Trooper Stauffer, the driver began rolling his window up. According to Trooper Stauffer, he thought the driver was about to flee and he started to return to his patrol car. Trooper Stauffer indicated the suspects’ vehicle circled around, began traveling towards him, and struck him with the front passenger side of the vehicle. According to Trooper Stauffer, after being struck, the vehicle continued forward dragging him, and subsequently pinning him against a steel pillar in the parking lot,” the PC statement read.
According to the Highway Patrol, authorities found audio evidence in Sailer’s car. The audio is from an in-car mounted camera and recorded Sailer contacting an unknown subject authorities believe to be his parents, saying he had just hit an officer.
Highway Patrol says on February 9, one day before the incident, the Mesa, Arizona Police Department’s Intelligence and Counterterrorism Unit issued a situational awareness bulletin about Sailer. Those officials stated Sailer made statements to family members threatening to kill police in retaliation for police killing his younger brother on February 7.