Brandon Ellingson
A Missouri state trooper will avoid a trial in connection with the drowning death of an Iowa man at Lake of the Ozarks.
Twenty-year-old Brandon Ellingson of Clive was taken into custody on the lake in May of 2014 on suspicion of boating while intoxicated. Ellingson was handcuffed and was not properly fitted in a lifejacket when he fell out of a boat operated by Trooper Anthony Piercy.
The Kansas City Star newspaper reported Piercy pleaded guilty Tuesday to a misdemeanor boating violation, a much lesser offense than involuntary manslaughter – the felony charge he was facing in a trial that was scheduled to begin July 10.
The State of Missouri, late last year, paid a settlement of $9 million to Ellingson’s family.