Charges of assault and reckless driving were dropped Wednesday against Dan Price, the former CEO of Gravity Payments who won international acclaim for his 2015 decision to raise average worker pay at the company from $48,000 to $70,000 a year while cutting his own nearly million-dollar salary.
Price resigned from the company last year after being charged with fourth-degree assault with sexual motivation over an incident with a woman he met for dinner on Seattle’s Capitol Hill — allegedly to discuss “professional matters,” according to court documents.
Prosecutors originally alleged that Price grabbed the woman’s throat when she refused to let him kiss her and then grabbed it again when they were in his car and he allegedly spun donuts in a North Seattle parking lot.
On Wednesday, the Seattle City Attorney dismissed all the charges.
KIRO 7 reached out to Price’s attorney for a statement, which reads:
It is shocking that police referred this case to the prosecutor for criminal charges without conducting any follow-up investigation, interviewing any witnesses other than the complainant, or even asking Mr. Price what happened. Mr. Price appreciates that the Seattle City Attorney’s Office has reached the appropriate conclusion to dismiss all charges.