SALT LAKE CITY — Another Utahn is facing criminal charges in connection with a police car that was flipped over and torched during a downtown Salt Lake City protest just over two weeks ago.
Prosecutors on Monday filed counts of criminal mischief, a first-degree felony, and rioting, a third-degree felony, against Monico Isidro Romero, 31, of Salt Lake City. He is accused of ramming a yellow flag with a wooden handle through the windshield when the car was tipped on its side.
Romero is among at least eight charged in the car’s destruction at the demonstration against police brutality, one of many nationwide following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Salt Lake police reviewed video taken at the May 30 protest and compared the video to Romero’s driver license photo, charging documents say. Seven others are charged with helping to flip or torch the car, which sustained more than $5,000 in damage. Photographs show the car fully engulfed in flames near the downtown Salt Lake City library.
Organizers with Utah chapters of Black Lives Matter condemned the violent outbursts that occurred that day and urged demonstrators to remain peaceful.
In its request for an arrest warrant, the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office wrote that it is seeking bail to be set at $25,000.
No attorney for Romero was listed in court records.