NEWBURY PARK : Assault Charges Against Drug Dealer Dismissed

A convicted Newbury Park drug dealer will not be retried for allegedly trying to run down a sheriff’s deputy with a pickup truck, a judge has ruled.

Last week, a jury deadlocked 7 to 5 in favor of convicting Jeffrey Hedlund on two charges of assault on a police officer in connection with his June 30 arrest on drug charges.

The same jury convicted Hedlund of one count of transportation and sale of cocaine. He had previously pleaded guilty to a separate drug-possession charge stemming from the same case.

Prosecutors had asked to retry Hedlund, 26, once again on the assault charges. But Superior Court Judge Charles R. McGrath refused the request Monday and dismissed the two assault counts against the defendant.

Hedlund faces up to 7 3/4 years in state prison on the drug convictions, Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Meyers said.

Hedlund slammed his pickup truck into reverse and sped toward Deputy Patrick MacCauley on June 30 after realizing that a man he had just sold cocaine to was a police informant, according to court testimony.

MacCauley managed to dive out of the way to avoid serious injury, he testified.

Jurors had told McGrath that they did not think that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict Hedlund on the assault counts.