Minnesota Twins third baseman Miguel Sano will not face criminal charges for his involvement in an accident in the Dominican Republic early Sunday morning in which a police officer suffered a broken leg.
Sano, who was leaving a nightclub in his native San Pedro de Macoris at 3 a.m. on Sunday in the company of his wife, had been speaking to police officer Argenis Emilio Gillandeux in front of the club. After the exchange, he went to back up his white pickup truck without realizing that Gillandeux had not moved his motorcycle from behind him, a spokesman for the Dominican national police, Coronel Frank Duran Mejia, told Enrique Rojas on Monday.
In the early hours of Sunday morning, Sano was questioned upon leaving a nightclub because his vehicle did not have a license plate and he was not carrying his driver's license. After he spoke with the officer, the accident occurred. Sano was detained by the police for several hours but was released and allowed to return home after he agreed to return on Monday to be issued the citation to go to traffic court.
"The citizen, Miguel Sano, was sent today to the traffic court to comply with the due process in these types of cases," said Duran. "It is a formality when someone is injured in a vehicular accident. It is important to clarify that the policeman declared that the accident was not intentional, and that Sano hit his leg when Sano was reversing his vehicle to leave the place and that the baseball player was the first to provide help and never abandoned the scene. Neither the agent nor the national police plan to charge Sano with anything."
Gillandeux, who suffered fractures to both the tibia and fibula of his left leg, was taken to the hospital by Sano, according to Duran, who added that the police officer and Sano know each other and attended school together. Duran said that Sano was never charged with a crime because he did not leave the scene of the accident.
Duran said that Sano offered to pay all of Gillandeux's medical expenses.
The Twins said in a statement on Sunday: "The Minnesota Twins have been made aware of a situation involving Miguel Sano recently in the Dominican Republic. The facts of the incident are not completely available right now but the club is in the process of gathering as much information as possible."
Sano, 25, was accused last December of sexual assault by a female photographer, but no charges were filed and Major League Baseball announced in March after completing an investigation that it would not discipline Sano.
His delayed spring training and an April hamstring injury set the stage for Sano having the worst season of his career. He hit just .199 in 71 games and earned a trip back to the minors to work on his swing and lose weight.
Sano had been an All-Star in 2017, when he hit .264 with 28 home runs and 77 RBIs.
ESPNdeportes' Enrique Rojas contributed to this report.