A former state trooper who police said ran over a man who was lying in the road in Fulton County in May has been cleared of a charge of leaving the scene of an accident. Megan Cruz reports.

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BROADALBIN, N.Y. -- Four months later, friends and family are still dropping off flowers where Chad Finch was found. They've all been waiting for some conclusion to this tragedy, but now that it's come, it's not one they wanted to hear.

Nephew Todd Farrington said, "If the shoe was on the other foot, if Chad hit him, he would have been in jail."

That was the first thing Todd Farrington thought when he heard no one would be held criminally accountable for his uncle's death. Chad Finch of Northville was found dead on County Highway 110 in the Town of Broadalbin this past May.

"It's not even so much sad anymore as angry," Farrington said.

Family members found out Monday afternoon that Brian Beardsley, who at the time was an off-duty state trooper and whose truck was found to have had contact with Finch, would not be charged with leaving the scene before police arrived.

Hamilton County District Attorney James T. Curry said, "In the strict analysis of the facts of the case and looking at all the circumstances, the grand jury found that he couldn't be held criminally responsible."

Curry said he wasn't surprised by the grand jury's decision. According to Vehicle Traffic Law, Beardsley did nothing wrong. All that's required is that a person report if they've been involved in an incident that resulted in an injury, which Beardsley did. Curry said he instructed his girlfriend, who was in the vehicle with him, to call 911 after they came across the body. However, the law does not require that the person then stay at the scene if no law enforcement officials are present.

"There were other things going on at the time that contributed to his decision to leave, that had nothing to do with anything except a fairly compelling situation."

Curry said he couldn't go into any more details because of the grand jury proceedings. Finch's nephew said he's not satisfied with the reasoning.

"Just as a human being, how can you leave someone else lying in a ditch and just leave them? I couldn't do it, and I don't know how anybody else could," Farrington said.

But Curry said somebody else could have left Finch there before Beardsley even came along. He said the Fulton County Sheriff's Office was not able to determine how long the body had been in the road prior to the 911 call. An autopsy revealed that Finch's BAC was .20. Beardsley's level two and a half hours after police were contacted was .03.

"I'm satisfied that given what we know and what we were able to find out, that this was probably the closest to justice we were going to get," Curry said.

Farrington said justice is hardly the word that comes to mind.

"To me it was murder," Farrington said. "It could have been an unfortunate accident if he stayed and tried to help."

Some differences, understandably, but what both Curry and Farrington do agree on is the need for more specific guidelines in the law to prevent situations like this from happening again. As far as Beardsley, he had resigned from the State Police during the investigation. No word yet on whether he'll seek to rejoin the force.