Woman accused of deliberately hitting two people with vehicle

A Benton, Missouri, woman faces four felony charges in connection with an altercation in which she is accused of striking two adults and attempting to strike a child with her vehicle.

Maci Jo Upchurch, 21, was charged Thursday in Scott County Circuit Court with one count of armed criminal action, two counts of domestic assault and one count of endangering the welfare of a child.

Deputy Matt Scroggins of the Scott County Sheriff's Department responded to a call about a woman striking two other women with a vehicle Wednesday afternoon at Upchurch's address, he wrote in a probable-cause affidavit filed in connection with the case.

A woman lying on the ground when Scroggins arrived told the deputy her sister, Upchurch, had struck her with her vehicle, he wrote.

Another woman at the scene, who identified Upchurch as her daughter, said Upchurch and another person had been in a physical altercation earlier in the day, during which Upchurch punched the person in the left eye, Scroggins wrote.

Witnesses reported Upchurch left with her juvenile daughter in the front floorboard of her vehicle, backed out of the driveway and then drove forward toward her sister and two other people, including a child, striking the adults before backing out and driving away, Scroggins wrote.

One victim was taken by ambulance to Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau with injuries and cuts to both legs, and another "had swelling and bruising on her left eye [and] was complaining of bruising and pain in both hands, but refused to be transported to the hospital," the deputy wrote.

Upchurch's criminal history includes property damage and a pair of domestic assaults, according to the affidavit.

Online court records show she pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor peace disturbance in 2012 and was fined $300.

epriddy@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

Benton, Missouri