Chris Soules has been keeping a low profile since his arrest last month for the Hit And Run accident that killed one of his neighbors. The former "Bachelor" star was involved in a fatal car accident on April 24 when his car plowed into the back end of a tractor driven by 66-year old farmer Kenneth Mosher. Soules was seen in a court appearance the following day but has been staying out of public view ever since.
Where was the "Bachelor" star seen?
According to E! News, Chris Soules was seen on Wednesday when he showed up at an O'Reilly's Auto Parts in Iowa. Soules even posed for a photo with an employee who was excited to see him in the store. The picture of the employee with the "Bachelor" star was posted on Instagram with the caption, "My sweet customer today."
The auto parts store employee's name is Ashley Moore Overton. After posting the Chris Soules selfie on Instagram, she got quite a bit of flack over it. That didn't stop her from enjoying her moment with the "Bachelor" star though and she ended up giving an impassioned rant on Facebook in defense of Soules that can be seen below.
Soules headed to trial for hit and run
Hours after the fatal accident that killed one of Chris Soules' farmer neighbors, he was arrested and taken into custody. Soules was charged with leaving the scene of an accident, which is considered a class D felony. If convicted, Soules faces five years in prison.
Chris Soules called 911 at the scene of the accident after his truck rear-ended a tractor that was being driven by Kenneth Mosher. Mosher was taken to the hospital and died there due to the injuries he suffered during the crash. Soules waited until Mosher was receiving care from first responders and then he went home. Law enforcement wasn't able to reach Soules until hours later, after obtaining a warrant.
Soules' lawyers worked to have the felony charge against the "Bachelor" star dismissed but were not successful. Instead, the reality star entered a not guilty plea, claiming that he did stay at the scene of the accident until first responders showed up. His lawyers are confident that Soules won't be convicted of the felony charges and feel that once the evidence is presented, the public will see that the "Bachelor" star is innocent and the fatal car crash was just a really bad accident. However, the prosecution claims that he purchased alcohol just hours before the fatal crash and that there were empty beer cans in his truck when the accident occurred.
Chris Soules will have a pretrial conference on July 11 before heading to trial on July 19.