PARK CITY, Utah, Sept. 3, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — A Park City councilman has been convicted of disorderly conduct after prosecutors say he “lost his cool and launched into a profanity-laden tirade” in an argument with a ski instructor in December 2022.
The class C misdemeanor charge against Jeremy Rubell, 43, was amended to an infraction last week in Summit County Justice Court. Judge Shauna Kerr found the councilman guilty and fined him $160 during a bench trial Wednesday.
Summit County prosecutors say the altercation occurred Dec. 29, 2022, while the instructor was giving a skiing lesson to a Park City couple and their teenage daughter.
The instructor and clients were near the No. 1 tee at Park City Golf Club, which was serving as a cross-country ski track operated by White Pine Touring, according to charging documents.
Rubell’s home on Thaynes Canyon Drive is “adjacent to the portion of the cross-country ski track where the instructor and his students were standing,” the charges state.
Prosecutors say Rubell was blowing snow off the back deck of his home about noon when he “gestured” at the ski instructor “with a raised middle finger.” When the instructor returned the gesture, Rubell “immediately lost his cool and launched into a profanity-laden tirade,” according to charging documents.
The instructor told law enforcement he heard Rubell say, “You f—–s are always doing this. … Don’t worry, we’re going to shut you f—–s down,” the charges state.
The couple and their teenage daughter said they “thought it was a joke at first” when Rubell “began cursing and yelling,” but it “became clear that it was not,” charging documents state.
“[He] was out of control. Our instructor apologized numerous times,” the family told police.
The husband and father in the group told police he was “a little uncomfortable” and called the incident, which he estimated lasted four to five minutes, “unfortunate.”
The ski instructor ended up having the group move locations, charges state.
Rubell was elected to the Park City Council in November 2021.
