Miguel Sano incident with police officer called an accident, no charges filed

News broke Sunday evening that Miguel Sano had been arrested in the Dominican Republic for a hit and run involving a police officer, but it appears those initial reports were wildly misleading. The incident appears to be a complete accident, and Sano never fled the scene, according to police, so Sano will not be facing any criminal charges.

Here’s what Dominican Police said happened, according to ESPN.com:

Sano was leaving a nightclub after 3:00 am, accompanied by his wife. Officers pulled Sano over because his truck did not have license plates, and he did not have his driver’s license on him. After speaking to the officer — who knew Sano and had attended school with him — Sano backed up his truck to leave without realizing the officer had not moved his motorcycle from the back of his truck. Sano accidentally struck the officer, breaking his leg. Sano didn’t flee the scene at all and was the first to provide help to the officer. In fact, Sano actually brought the officer to the hospital himself.

Coronel Frank Durán Mejía, a spokesman for Dominican National Police, said that Sano was sent to traffic court today, as is customary in all cases involving injury caused by a motor vehicle. Sano received a traffic ticket, but will not be cited with a crime because no crime occurred.

Sano has reportedly also offered to pay for all medical and recovery costs for the officer.

There are some reasons why this story could be more plausible than the one initially reported. The fact no crime occurred was actually hinted at in one of the initial reports of the incident: a tweet from the Santo Domingo News that mentioned charges were “unlikely”. There was also nothing mentioned in initial reports about a police chase or arresting Sano at a different location.

It’s also good to know Sano was out with his wife and not just out partying alone by himself.

So what does this mean for Sano’s future with the Twins? I’m sure the team will ask him about it directly, but I highly doubt there will be any disciplinary action. None of the reports actually mentioned anything about Sano being drunk, so I suspect this incident will be largely forgotten over time.