Suspect in fatal Macon hit and run has homicide charges dropped. Here’s why
Charges have been dropped against a man who was accused of vehicular homicide in a fatal hit and run, according to court records from Friday.
The Macon Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s office agreed to dismiss the charges of hit and run and homicide by vehicle, which stemmed from a pedestrian death in 2022. Prosecutors acknowledged there was a lack of evidence proving the suspect was the driver, court records say.
Marquis Antal Meaux did still plead guilty to tampering with evidence, court records say.
Prosecutors determined that the investigation failed to prove Meaux “was the operator of the vehicle that struck and killed Larry Simmons” on May 9, 2022, Chief Assistant District Attorney Tony May with the Macon Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office said in court records.
“The investigation also failed to demonstrate that the actions of the driver of the vehicle were the proximate cause of the wreck resulting in Mr. Simmons’ death,” May said.
Meaux was arrested after a nearly three-month hunt for the suspect in Simmons’ death. A confidential caller had reached out to the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office claiming to have found a truck that looked like the one involved in the wreck — a black pickup truck with mag wheels and a raised body with red lettering on its side — at a house on Bailey Avenue.
A deputy had gone to the house to investigate further, and found a black pickup truck consistent with the one that was seen in the video footage of the hit-and-run. The car the deputy saw had recent damage that seemed to be from a pedestrian strike, according to the arrest warrant.
The deputy spoke to Meaux and asked him how the truck was damaged, but he responded that he didn’t remember, according to the warrant.
The deputy spoke with Meaux a few days later, and he told the officer that “he leaves the keys in the truck for people in the neighborhood to use,” the warrant said.
