A father who was rescued along with his three young children from Big Cottonwood Canyon in October after they were caught in a winter storm while hiking is now facing felony charges for taking his children on that hike.
Micah Smith, 32, of South Jordan, was charged Wednesday in 3rd District Court with three counts of child torture and three counts of aggravated child abuse, all first-degree felonies.
“What seemed like an innocent hike with his three children quickly turned into a nightmare when the defendant chose to summit a mountain over the safety of the kids. The defendant refused to turn around when their mom told him to turn around and get the children home,” charging documents state. “During the 24-hour ordeal, the victims expressed that they were cold, tired and wanted to go home. The defendant, who is supposed to be the protector of his children, was ill-prepared and extremely selfish.”
On Oct. 11, Smith and his sons, ages 4 and 2, and his 8-year-old daughter set off to hike to the summit of Twin Peaks but were caught in a storm.
Salt Lake County sheriff’s deputies located the family the next day after they were reported missing. Smith was in fair condition, two of the children were in critical condition and the third child was stable, the sheriff’s office said.
When search and rescue crews found Smith, they “noted that Smith was behaving oddly and did not appear to be concerned about the children. Smith also told search and rescue team members that one of his children was dead,” according to the charges.
The 4-year-old boy “was mostly exposed, unconscious and ‘appeared lifeless,’” and had no pulse when he was found, the charges state. While being transported to a local hospital, the boy received about 25 minutes of CPR. At the hospital, he “suffered a stroke, which required a portion of his skull to be removed and an external ventricular drain to be placed.”
Smith’s daughter told investigators that when storm clouds started rolling in that day, she tried to convince her father to go home, but he refused.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” he allegedly told her.
“(The girl) said she again expressed to Smith that they ‘should really go’ and said that ‘she was getting scared.’” But her father told her, “‘You shall not pass,’ and then the storm came in ‘really quickly’ and described that it was ‘snowing, hailing and raining.’ She said she was ‘worried about not living,’ but Smith told her that they were OK,” according to the charging documents.
At one point during the night, Smith taught his daughter how to give CPR to her brother, the charges say.
The other boy fell and hit his head while they were hiking down the mountain and became “unconscious, unresponsive, and not breathing” during the night, Smith told investigators.
When questioned, Smith “admitted that he did not check the trail reports or the weather prior to heading out for the hike,” according to the court documents. He also said “he considered turning around due to the weather when they were close to the peak, but wanted to finish the hike before turning around.”
Smith says he sent photos of the sky to his wife as the storm developed and she also “suggested they start hiking down the mountain,” the charges state.
A search of Smith’s phone revealed a video in which one child is heard asking, “‘Are we going to freeze to death, Daddy?’ Smith responded that they ‘are almost to the top.’ In another video, Smith told the children that the path they would take was ‘not the normal one and they are taking the path less traveled,’ and then explained that the ‘path will be hard and ‘is not easy,’” according to the charges.
Investigators also noted that the hike is “rated hard and not recommended for beginner hikers or children” and that only two deputies felt confident hiking to the rescue location.
Prosecutors say Smith’s “behavior is clearly spiraling.” They noted an interaction with Cottonwood Heights police about a month earlier in which he “expressed suicidal ideations.” And on Nov. 10, he had to be removed from Primary Children’s Hospital for interfering with his son’s care and tampering with the equipment, the charges allege.
He was also arrested for investigation of domestic violence shortly after the incident.