Former prosecutor surprised by assault charge against suspect in Ogden Canyon crash

OGDEN, Utah (KUTV) — Michael Love is facing charges of manslaughter, aggravated assault and obstruction of justice after the machine he was carrying crashed into an SUV, killing two people and injuring three others.

Former prosecutor Nathan Evershed said the manslaughter and obstruction justice charges made sense, but it was aggravated assault that really stood out.

“Frankly, I cannot understand how aggravated assault can be proven with the facts that we know,” Evershed said.

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Evershed’s best guess is that the state believes Love committed an act with a dangerous weapon, using unlawful force or violence that caused bodily injury. In this case it will most likely be the machine.

A federal investigation into the accident found that the machine was not properly connected.

“When something falls, whether it’s through negligence, by mistake, or recklessly from the trailer, it’s difficult to understand, based on the evidence we have, how this person could have committed such an action and that the action he committed was carried out using unlawful force or violence.” Evershed said.

Evershed believes the assault charges are for the surviving people in the car and said he would be surprised if they were even filed, let alone proven.

As for the other charges, he said obstruction of justice charges are common in such cases, and manslaughter means he believes the state can prove Love was aware something was wrong but went ahead with it anyway.

“So this is much more serious than negligence, but they also don’t go for the depraved, reckless, murder theory,” Evershed said.

He said in these cases, law enforcement will look at the facts of the case and the law and then file charges they think should be filed.

The prosecutor will then decide whether to present these documents.

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