Embattled trooper offers to leave

An embattled State Highway Patrol trooper has offered to resign, rather than face a disciplinary hearing scheduled for this week. Patrol spokesman Captain Chris Ricks acknowledges Trooper Sean Wood has submitted a letter of resignation, but says a decision on what to do with it hasn’t been reached. He and another trooper had been disciplined for taking a 19-year-old Springfield waitress to a hotel room, buying her beer and having sex with her. Then, the Greene County prosecutor filed sexual assault charges against Wood, stemming from a 1997 incident with his former girlfriend. Wood’s lawyer calls the scheduled disciplinary hearing a sham.