NEWTON FALLS, Ohio - Charges against former Newton Falls Police Chief, Gene Fixler have been dismissed without prejudice Wednesday afternoon.

This means that while charges are dismissed for now, the case could be tried again in court. However, the prosecution says they're not interested in bringing these charges back and that the statute of limitations to try Fixler again expires on Friday.

Fixler was previously charged with Dereliction of Duty, which stemmed from a traffic stop from December of 2020 where Fixler encountered a possibly impaired driver.

Since the driver was stopped outside of Newton Falls PD's jurisdiction, Fixler handed the stop to a deputy with the Trumbull County Sheriff's Office, who let him go. The same driver was involved in a fatal crash 10 minutes later.

The toxicology report revealed that the driver had a lethal amount of drugs in his system. Both Fixler and the deputy, identified as Dallas Young believed the man to be "tired, not impaired."

Young was previously charged, but charges against him were dismissed due to Garrity rights, which protect law enforcement officers from incriminating themselves.