SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — A man from North Carolina has been charged after hitting and ultimately killing a pedestrian outside of a Walmart in Springfield with his semi-truck and leaving the scene in September 2023.
According to court documents, 56-year-old Melvin Battle of Fayetteville, North Carolina, was charged with second-degree involuntary manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident that resulted in death. Battle pleaded not guilty in Greene County Court on Monday, May 6, and has been in Greene County Jail on a $15,000 bond.
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On Septemeber 29, 2023, at 9:54 a.m., 51-year-old Todd Tennison was on a curb outside the Walmart Supercenter on North Kansas Expressway when a white semi-truck hit him while trying to exit onto the southbound Kansas Expressway. Tennison was taken to Mercy Hospital and died from his injuries on October 1, 2023.
The probable cause statement says a witness saw the truck hit something and then left the scene. The witness flagged down Battle at the intersection of Kansas Expressway and Kearney Street, with Battle telling the witness that they would go back to the scene and check.