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SALT LAKE CITY — Criminal charges were filed Tuesday against three more people accused of committing crimes during the May 30 riot in downtown Salt Lake City.
Nathaniel Domingo Torres, 22, of Salt Lake City, is accused of smashing panes of glass at a TRAX platform during protests in downtown Salt Lake City over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis that turned violent. He was charged Tuesday in 3rd District Court with criminal mischief, a second-degree felony, and rioting, a third-degree felony.
Among the destruction, at least four people, including Torres, “used skateboards, poles and other items to damage or break the windows” on the TRAX platform at 210 E. 400 South in front of the Salt Lake City Main Library, according to charging documents. Damage was estimated at $2,000.
Police also found a picture showing Torres using a pole to hit a Salt Lake police patrol car after it had already been turned over and burned, the charges state. He was also allegedly photographed standing on the undercarriage of the burned out car.
Two more people were charged Tuesday in connection with the overturning and vandalism of that police car. Tracy B. Benedict, 33, of Clearfield, and Kenese Raven Mobley, 30, of Herriman, are charged with criminal mischief, a first-degree felony, and rioting, a third-degree felony.
Benedict is accused of ripping part of the patrol car’s light bar off and smashing it onto the vehicle. She also stomped on a laptop pulled out of the car, ripped wires from the vehicle’s bumper area and threw water bottles and other garbage at an officer, according to charging documents.
Mobley stood on top of the driver’s side door of the patrol car once it was flipped over, and jumped up and down on it, the charges state.
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8th and 9th people charged with vandalizing police car during downtown riot
Two more people were charged Tuesday in connection with vandalizing and flipping over a Salt Lake police patrol car during the riot in downtown Salt Lake on May 30.A Salt Lake police officer was driving that marked patrol car on 400 South when she was stopped by a group of protesters near 210 East. Investigators said the crowd surrounded the car and began pounding on the windows. Other officers had to help rescue the officer from her car and pull her away from the crowd before it overturned the vehicle and set it ablaze.
Twelve people are now listed in court documents as co-defendants accused of turning over and vandalizing the police vehicle. Two men have been charged in federal court in connection with setting it on fire.
In addition to several officers being injured during the riot, new charging documents also note that “a number of protesters were injured, and several buildings and structures,” including the Matheson Courthouse, the Salt Lake City-County Building, the Salt Lake City Main Library, TRAX stations, and the Salt Lake City Public Safety Building, were damaged during the protest and subsequent riot.
“Although it has been a month since the riot occurred, a team of Salt Lake City police detectives have been viewing hours of video to ensure they have properly identified each defendant,” the charges state.
