- Two men were charged with assaulting officers during an ICE protest.
- The charges followed a Jan. 30 protest in Salt Lake City.
- The Park City man and North Salt Lake man allegedly resisted arrest and injured officers during the protest.
SALT LAKE CITY — Two men were charged Wednesday with assaulting police officers during an ICE protest in downtown Salt Lake City in January.
Hayden Coccaro, 19, of Park City, is charged in 3rd District Court with five counts of assault on a police officer, a class A misdemeanor; interfering with a police officer, a class B misdemeanor; and failing to disperse, a class C misdemeanor.
Ben Green, 19, of North Salt Lake, is charged with assault on a police officer, a third-degree felony; interfering with police, a class B misdemeanor; and failing to disperse, a class C misdemeanor.
On the afternoon of Jan. 30, more than 1,000 people participated in the "National Shutdown" in downtown Salt Lake City to protest the actions of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Demonstrators rallied at the Salt Lake City-County Building before marching along 200 East, 700 South, and State Street back to Washington Square. The Salt Lake march was in conjunction with protests nationwide following the deaths of Alex Pretti on Jan. 24 and Renée Good on Jan. 7 in Minnesota.
Coccaro, "was one of the main agitators during the protest and was continuously involved in blocking multiple lanes of traffic on major roadways, including State Street," according to a police booking affidavit.
"A large group of individuals (was) chanting and obstructing the roadway. Green continued to refuse to move to the sidewalk, blocking the street" near 150 S. State, according to charging documents.
Green pulled away from one officer, pushed a second and then "jabbed his metal cane into (the first officer's) groin with both hands, causing injury," the charges allege. "Green continued to pull away from officers despite orders for Green to get on the ground."
At the same time, as officers attempted to arrest Coccaro for disobeying orders to disperse, he was seen "attempting to kick officers multiple times with his left leg" and then threw an officer "to the ground during the arrest and resisted arrest by pulling his arms under his body," the charges state. "Coccaro then kicked (an officer) in the right shin and punched (him) in the face with his right fist before grabbing onto (the officer's) helmet, pulling him to the ground."
Coccaro is additionally accused of kicking two other officers, one in the head and one in the shin.
Police further stated in the affidavit that Coccaro "is clearly one of the main agitators and organizers for riots. He had a large stack of hundreds of pamphlets for an anti-ICE protest in his backpack. … (He) is a person who ruins a mostly peaceful protest by turning it into a riot with his violent and illegal behavior."
A third person, Serenity Jo Burrup, 25, was charged in April in Salt Lake City Justice Court with interfering with an officer, rioting, and aggravated disorderly conduct, class B misdemeanors; failing to disperse, a class C misdemeanor; and being a pedestrian impeding or blocking traffic, an infraction.
A fourth person, a 24-year-old man, also arrested in January for investigation of misdemeanor assault on an officer, has not been formally charged as of Wednesday.
