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WEST VALLEY CITY — Was a man hit and killed by a pickup truck, whose body was left on the side of a West Valley road, intentionally run over?
That's the question the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office will have to decide when police formally turn their case over to prosecutors to be screened for possible charges.
On April 16, the body of Hairon Freyre-Portuondo, 20, was found lying in the road at 1855 W. 3188 South. At the time, police said that he "suffered fatal injuries that appeared consistent with being run over by a vehicle."
The Utah State Medical Examiner's Office determined that Freyre-Portuondo "suffered massive head trauma along with abrasions on his body consistent with rolling on the road," according to a Salt Lake County Jail report
Late Friday, West Valley police announced that Kiersten Jeanne Tomasini, 22, was arrested for investigation of manslaughter, failing to remain at the scene of a serious accident, being in a stolen vehicle, and obstruction of justice.
Anthony Allan Borge, 19, was arrested for investigation of obstruction of justice.
Freyre-Portuondo was in the truck along with Borge and Tomasini, who was driving, the report states. At some point there was a dispute among the people in the vehicle.
Borge told detectives that "the victim jumped out of the moving vehicle and fell to the ground and that Kiersten then made a U-turn and purposely ran over the victim with her truck," the report states.
Tomasini, however, told police that she did not run over Freyre-Portuondo intentionally. She claimed that after he jumped out, "her back tire ran over the victim and she was unsure if he was alive but was scared so she fled the scene. Kiersten indicated she knew she should have called police but was scared," the report states.
Kiersten then made a U-turn and purposely ran over the victim with her truck.
–Police report
West Valley police noted in a police report for Borge that the case was being treated as a homicide investigation. Police spokeswoman Roxeanne Vainuku said Monday that detectives worked with the district attorney's office during their investigation and arrests of the two suspects. She said it would be up to prosecutors to decide whether Tomasini will be formally charged with criminal homicide or manslaughter or something else.
The vehicle involved the incident, a 2006 Ford F-350, was reported stolen out of the Unified Police Department's jurisdiction on April 1, according to the report. Tomasini, who is homeless, was living out of the vehicle, police said.
