The Carver County Attorney’s Office has dismissed charges against a Watertown man in connection with a road rage incident in Mound.
Charles Robert Christie, 31, was charged in January with second-degree assault and impersonating a police officer. The charges were dismissed July 30, according to Peter Ivy, chief deputy county attorney.
Two Watertown men had accused Christie of following their vehicle from Mound to Watertown, according to a Jan. 9 news release from the Carver County Sheriff’s Office. After both vehicles were pulled over, the men said Christie brandished a handgun and displayed an ID badge claiming he was a detective from the Minnetrista Police Department, the Sheriff’s Office said.
When questioned by sheriff’s deputies, Christie admitted that there had been a road rage incident but denied brandishing a gun or identifying himself as a police officer, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Months after he was charged, Christie passed a polygraph test, according to Ivy and Christie’s attorney, Adam Johnson. In addition, a private investigator hired by Johnson located an associate of one of the accusers. That person told the investigator the accuser had bragged about cutting off Christie’s vehicle and lying to authorities about the roadside confrontation, Ivy said.
Ivy said polygraph test results are not admissible in court. However, the test, along with the investigator’s findings, led him to drop the case because it lacked “substantial likelihood of conviction.”
In exchange for having the charges dismissed, Christie agreed to surrender his permit to carry a firearm, Ivy and Johnson said. An order revoking the permit was issued July 30 by District Judge Kevin Eide.
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