Last summer AEW star Cash Wheeler was involved in what was deemed to be a “road rage” altercation try the prosecution. That incident would see him get arrested on a charge of aggravated assault with a firearm. His arrest came just days before AEW’s biggest show that they’ve done to date, AEW All In, nearly jeopardizing the scheduled Tag Team Championship match between FTR and the Young Bucks. A warrant for his arrest was issues on July 28 and he plead not guilty via his attorney with the circuit court on August 3. On August 17 he turned himself in and he was arraigned the next day. Wheeler was able to fly overseas to do the match as planned and it didn’t stop the audience from poking fun at the wrestler who still has yet to publicly comment on the situation.ย
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Wheeler’s case has been sitting idle since then but back in February it was announced that he was facing criminal charges for the incident that occurred. A trial was scheduled for May 20 but that will no longer take place. His case was deemed “Nolle Prosequi” this afternoon according the the prosecutor’s filing. The Latin phrase is used in legal cases where the prosecution has opted to drop the case. A pre-trial hearing was scheduled to take place tomorrow afternoon, May 14, but all of that was canceled after the decision was made.
Throughout the entire case, Wheeler has plead not guilty to his charges. Wheeler allegedly “flashed a gun” at the other party and as claimed by his attorney during his court proceedings,ย Wheeler did not know the other party involved. As the incident took place in Florida, if Wheeler had been found guilty during the trial, he would have faced up to five years in prison as well as five years probation and a $5,000 fine.
Florida’s Orange County, where the incident occurred, released the following incident report from Cpl. Mitchell Bowhay:
“On July 27, 2023, at 0959 I, Officer M. Bowhay #19932, responded to [REDACTED] in reference to an aggravated assault with a firearm call. Upon my arrival I spoke to the victim, Daniel Matta, who provided me with a sworn written/verbal statement that said the following: Matta stated he was driving west on Interstate 4 north of Exit 83. He noticed a Jeep Gladiator weaving in and out of traffic honking its horn, so he moved over to the far-right lane to let the Jeep pass. Matta said the Jeep took the right shoulder to drive around him on the passenger side of his vehicle. Matta looked over and noticed a white male with a beard pointing a black semi-automatic handgun out of the driver’s window at him with a strong stare. Matta said he feared for his life at this time. Matta stated he slowed down to get out of the way of the firearm and ended up behind the suspect vehicle at this time.”At this time both were committed to exit 83 (Ivanhoe Blvd). Matta took pictures of the Jeep as it turned right onto College Park Drive and began to drive reckless. Matta said the Jeep beared Florida tag [REDACTED]. After taking the picture, Matta said he called 911 and gave the vehicle information to dispatch the details of what occurred. He explained he could not be late for work and asked an officer to meet him at his work [REDACTED].”I created a photo line-up using ELVIS (a database used by law enforcement for investigative purposes). Elvis selected five random photos based on the suspect’s Florida driver’s license picture Page 1 of 2 and put them in a randomized order with the suspect being the sixth picture. Officer Blinn #34211 met with Matta and presented him with the photo lineup instructions and the photo lineup. Matta quickly selected the correct picture, photo #2, of the suspect, later identified as, Daniel M. Wheeler, W/M D.O.B 5/17/1987 with 100% certainty. (See Officer Blinn’s supplement for more details.) Based on Mattas sworn statement and the positive photo lineup identification, probable cause exist to charge Wheeler with, aggravated assault with a firearm violation of F.S.S. 784.021(1)(A)-1.”
