Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
- Two men face charges after a fatal July 5 altercation in Taylorsville.
- Miguel Rivera is charged with murder, and Juan Perez Rivera is charged with with aggravated assault and obstruction.
- Luis Ramirez was knocked out and run over during the incident.
TAYLORSVILLE — Two men are facing criminal charges accusing them of knocking out another man during a fight in Taylorsville and then driving over him as they left — killing the victim.
Miguel Angel Rivera, 34, of Sandy, was charged Wednesday in 3rd District Court with murder, a first-degree felony. Juan Jose Perez Rivera, 36, of Woods Cross, was charged with aggravated assault and obstruction of justice, second-degree felonies.
About 2 a.m. on July 5, three men showed up at a residence near 1600 West and 5000 South where there had been a Fourth of July party. One of the occupants "came to the door and went outside telling the three males the party was over, and he wasn't going to let them inside the residence," according to charging documents.
A short time later, one of the men threw a full beer can through the front window. That prompted several people from the house to go outside and confront the others.
Luis Ramirez, 44, who had been in the home, threw a rock through one of the windows of the car the three men arrived in, which led to a fight between Ramirez and Perez, according to the charges. Ramirez "was punched and knocked to the ground unconscious by Perez Rivera who continued to punch the victim as he lay unconscious."
The men then got back into their car to leave. But as they "were fleeing the area, the victim who was still unconscious on the ground was ran over, resulting in his death," the charges state.
Detectives called to the scene found a key fob and used it to trace it back to the vehicle that was registered to Perez, according to the charges. Police located that BMW and obtained a search warrant.
"Detectives located fibers, hair and other trace evidence removed from the driver's side of the car and the undercarriage. A bloody black undershirt and green whisky bottle was seized from the rear seat, the rear window was broken and had a hole in the upper left side, and the right rear window was completely broken out with signs of a concrete object having struck the interior of the car," according to the charging documents.
Police also located the third man who was in the car with Miguel Rivera and Perez. He claimed Perez was driving when Ramirez was run over, the charges state.
After the incident, the man said Perez told him "that if he told the police anything, he and Rivera would come after him on the streets. (The man) took that as a death threat and said he was planning on finding a new place to live," according to the charges.
