Delegate faces hit-and-run charges
RICHMOND — Del. C. Matthew Fariss faces felony charges stemming from a hit-and-run last week involving a passenger who’d gotten out of his vehicle and refused to get back inside, according to Virginia State Police records and the woman’s petition for a protective order against the Campbell County Republican.
Fariss, 54, and the woman were riding in his 2015 Chevy Tahoe on Route 501 in rural Campbell County on March 2 when his tire blew out, the petition says. He phoned his son to help him change the tire and became “furious” when he failed to show up, so the woman decided to walk to a cousin’s house, her petition says.
Fariss followed her in the car, yelling at her to get back inside, before he took a sharp turn into her, knocking her to the ground, she said in the petition. She suffered minor injuries, police said.
Fariss turned himself in Friday and was charged with one count of malicious wounding, one felony count of hit-and-run and one count of reckless driving. He was released on bond.
Fariss’s arrest was first reported by Cardinal News. A delegate since 2012, Fariss said the charges were unfounded.
“Though I’ve made some mistakes in my life. These allegations against me are untrue,” he wrote in a text to The Washington Post.
The police report did not indicate any connection between Fariss and the woman, who was identified only as a female pedestrian. More details are included in the woman’s petition for a protective order, which is included in the Campbell County General District Court file related to the hit-and-run charges.
The woman’s petition states that after she was knocked to the ground, Fariss got out of the vehicle, “yelling I should have gotten in ‘ the [expletive] car.’ Luckily a man across the street saw all of this and yelled. Once Matt saw there was a witness he got in his car and fled the scene.”
The General District Court granted a preliminary protective order Monday. A full hearing on the protective order will be held March 17.
House Speaker Todd Gilbert (R-shenandoah) said in an email that he is “aware of the charges against Delegate Matt Fariss. I am certain that Virginia’s legal system will ascertain all the facts and adjudicate the matter in a timely and just fashion.”
“Though I’ve made some mistakes in my life. These allegations against me are untrue.” Del. C. Matthew Fariss, in a text to The Washington Post