By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Buchanan County Prosecutor Michelle Davidson says her office has successfully prosecuted someone under the state’s new “Valentine’s Law,” which enhances the penalty for putting the public at risk by fleeing from law enforcement.
A Buchanan County jury has convicted 24-year-old Gabriel Paredes of Houston, Texas of Aggravated Fleeing in a Motor Vehicle for running from police on January the 2nd.
The prosecutor’s office says the jury deliberated for an hour and a half before returning the guilty verdict. St. Joseph police say Paredes sped off after an officer attempted a traffic stop. Paredes ran a stop sign and crashed into an embankment. Paredes and others fled the wreck on foot. A police drone was used to track them down and arrest them.
The news release states this is the first time the Buchanan County Prosecutor’s Office charged someone under “Valentine’s Law,” passed by the Missouri General Assembly in 2024. It mandates a minimum jail or prison sentence of at least one year with no provisions for early release for those who place the community at risk by fleeing police in an unsafe manner. It was named after St. Louis County Detective Antonio Valentine, killed when a fleeing vehicle crashed into his unmarked van.
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