A 44-year-old Taylor man is facing felony assault charges after deputies say he intentionally ran down a woman with his gray Ford F-150 in West Quincy, Missouri, then fled and hid inside a broken-down semi-truck before he was caught. Trent Nickolas Smith is now held on an $85,000 cash-only bond following his arrest Wednesday.
Marion County deputies were dispatched after a witness reported seeing a woman hit or run over by a vehicle in West Quincy, according to whig.com. The first deputy on scene found the woman lying in her driveway, calling for an ambulance, the outlet reported. Witnesses told investigators the gray Ford F-150 appeared to intentionally hit the woman before the driver left the scene.
Truck Tracked to Convenience Store Lot
The truck reportedly returned to the crash scene before deputies attempted a traffic stop on it. Law enforcement then followed the F-150 to a lot behind the Smokers Friendly convenience store, where the vehicle was left empty, per the same report. A witness told deputies the truck's driver said he was going to get a firearm and return, according to the account relayed to whig.com.
Deputies ultimately located Smith hiding inside a broken-down semi-truck nearby. He appeared to be intoxicated when he was taken into custody, deputies said. Smith is from Taylor, Missouri, an unincorporated community in northern Marion County that, like West Quincy, sits along U.S. Route 24 directly across the Mississippi River from Quincy, Illinois, according to Wikipedia. West Quincy itself was largely depopulated after the Great Flood of 1993 and today is mostly a commercial strip of convenience stores and industrial lots, per Religion Wiki.
Charges Include Felony Assault and Resisting Arrest
The 10th Judicial Circuit Court issued an arrest warrant for Smith and set his bond at $85,000 cash-only, requiring that he have no contact with the reported victim. The court holds trial jurisdiction over Marion, Monroe, and Ralls counties, according to Ballotpedia. Smith was charged with felony first-degree assault, felony resisting or interfering with a felony arrest, misdemeanor driving while intoxicated with prior offenses, and misdemeanor driving while suspended or revoked for a second or third occurrence, since his driving privileges had already been revoked. He was lodged in the Marion County Jail.
Under Missouri Revised Statutes Section 565.050, first-degree assault is a Class B felony punishable by five to 15 years in prison, but the charge escalates to a Class A felony carrying 10 to 30 years or life in prison if the victim suffers serious physical injury, per the Revised Statutes of Missouri. It remains unclear whether prosecutors will pursue the lower or upper tier of that charge, since the extent of the victim's injuries has not been disclosed. Neither the victim's identity nor her medical condition had been released as of Thursday.
Additional Charges Reflect Repeat Offenses
The resisting arrest charge carries its own independent weight under state law. Resisting or interfering with an arrest tied to a felony charge is classified as a Class E felony in Missouri, carrying a maximum of up to four years in state prison or up to one year in county jail, according to RSB Law. Separately, Missouri law elevates a DWI charge from a Class B misdemeanor to a Class A misdemeanor with mandatory minimum sentencing when prosecuted against a proven prior offender, under Section 577.023 of state statute.
The driving-while-revoked charge similarly reflects a pattern of repeat violations. Operating a vehicle while suspended or revoked for a second or third offense is prosecuted as a Class A misdemeanor under Missouri's motor vehicle code, according to Kielty Law. It was not disclosed whether deputies recovered a firearm after the witness report that Smith intended to retrieve one before returning to the scene.
Marion County's circuit court proceedings are split between two facilities, with the primary courthouse in Palmyra, built in 1901, and a secondary court operating in Hannibal, according to American Courthouses. The 10th Judicial Circuit's bench recently saw turnover, with longtime Hannibal associate judge John Jackson elevated to circuit judge and former public defender Jennifer Richardson appointed associate circuit judge in late 2024, per Hannibal.net. It has not been announced which judge will preside over Smith's case.
