WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah, April 8, 2018 (Gephardt Daily) — Three men are facing charges after a simple beep of a car horn led to physical violence Saturday at Valley Fair Mall.
West Valley City Police Lt. Amy Maurer said the incident began when two vehicles pulled into the mall parking lot at 2700 West.
It was a busy Saturday afternoon, Maurer said, and traffic was heavy.
The first vehicle, a white Toyota, occupied by two men and two women, stopped at what the driver thought was a four-way stop.
It wasn’t.
This prompted the driver of the second car, a Honda Accord occupied by two men, to honk the horn and encourage the Toyota to keep moving.
The men in the Toyota took offense, Maurer said.
As both cars slowly moved along, the two men got out of the Toyota and approached the Honda on foot.
When the Honda came to a stop, one of the men from the Toyota slammed his fist on the Honda, causing “minimal damage,” Maurer said.
That’s when one of the men from the Honda got out and asked why the guy was hitting his car.
Maurer said there was “posturing as if to fight,” and the man from the Honda felt threatened.
“So he punched the guy — boom! — and knocked him out,” Maurer said.
At that point, the other man from the Toyota — the unconscious man’s brother — scuffled with the man who had decked him.
While this went on, one man remained in the Honda, the two women stayed with the Toyota, and the police arrived on scene, called by concerned bystanders.
The man who was briefly knocked unconscious sustained some minor cuts when his head hit the pavement, so he was taken to a hospital as a precaution and to be evaluated, Maurer said.
His brother and the man from the Honda who knocked him out were also taken into custody.
Maurer said all three are facing an assortment of charges, including assault, disorderly conduct and criminal mischief.
