After a Utah man allegedly hit his pregnant girlfriend, leaving her with a black eye, an angry mob forced him to pay the price.
Fred Valdamar Ortiz, a 41-year-old Utah man, was accused of hitting his pregnant girlfriend after she was spotted with a black eye. The woman, who’s a dog breeder, had a group of people at her home looking for a puppy when she told them that Ortiz beat her two days earlier, causing the injury, according to arrest records.
The accusation didn’t sit well with the group. Disgusted that a man would give his pregnant girlfriend a black eye, the group turned into an angry mob and went after the accused after he was spotted driving by on a scooter. After seeing the alleged woman beater, the furious group, which included a 13-year-old, darted out of the house after him.
According to NY Post, at least six people eventually swarmed Ortiz behind Smith’s grocery store in Magna on a Monday afternoon after one suspect, later identified as 19-year-old Osyeanna Martinez, reportedly ran him down with a car. Although Ortiz reportedly kept running after being run down by the car, his attackers continued to chase him down and were soon upon him.
After running him down and hitting him with a Volkswagen Beetle, the angry mob then began beating Ortiz, and they didn’t show any mercy. Instead, surveillance footage from a restaurant nearby showed Martinez throwing two boards at Ortiz’s back and head, then punching and kicking him. In addition, the angry mob reportedly used a pole to beat him while he was on the ground, according to Fox 13.
“In the video, detectives observed at 1:36 p.m., [Ortiz] running and [Martinez] chasing him. Martinez throws two boards at [Ortiz’s] back/head and as he gets to the sidewalk near 8000 West 3567 South, Martinez grabs him and was punching and kicking him,” a detective wrote in the police report.
The angry mob didn’t stop until Fred Valdamar Ortiz paid the ultimate price for his alleged crime. When police officers with the Unified Police Department arrived at the scene behind Smith’s grocery store at 8055 West 3500 South around 2:30 pm, they found Ortiz unconscious and not breathing. Paramedics took Ortiz to Intermountain Medical Center, but he died from his injuries.
After the enraged horde had beat him to death for allegedly beating his pregnant girlfriend, according to KUTZ, the police only identified one of the other suspects using a full name, saying 18-year-old Xandre Sky Hill was also caught on video beating Ortiz with a pole. Although Hill admitted to police that he tackled and punched Ortiz, he claimed that another suspect used a pole during the beating.
Martinez and Hill were both jailed on charges of murder and held in the Salt Lake County Jail without bail. Three other accused were identified in a police report using only their initials. All of the suspects were in their teens and early 20s. A member of the group told police that they asked one of the others, a woman, to stop the beating, but she refused.
A suspect, who is related to Ortiz, told the police that he beat his girlfriend and that the family was scared to report the incident because he is on parole and “his probation officer will not do anything to lock him up.”
“[The family] have been scared to report it because [Ortiz] is on parole and his probation officer will not do anything to lock him up,” the arrest report says.
Sadly, this is a common complaint when it comes to domestic violence: It goes unreported because of fear. The victim does not have faith that authorities will do anything to help stop it and they are afraid of the consequences they might face. In fact, less than half — only 47% of cases of domestic violence or intimate partner violence — were reported to the police, according to the National Crime Victimization Survey administered by the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Although it’s understandable that someone may want to give an abuser a taste of their own medicine, there are many resources for assistance if you or someone you know is the suspected victim of domestic violence, including the National Domestic Violence Hotline (1-800-799-7233 or visit www.thehotline.org) as well as Local Domestic Violence Hotlines or Organizations, such as the YMCA, YWCA, Battered Women’s Shelter, Women Helping Women, Legal Aid Society, or local church resources. Victims can also contact a local police officer or attorney. Whatever the domestic violence victim decides, however, it’s critical to seek professional help right away.
