Judge dismisses case against man allegedly linked to racially-motivated riot

ST. GEORGE – A case involving a Washington City man accused of allegedly participating in a racially-motivated riot was dismissed in 5th District Court in St. George Monday morning.

David Ray Reid, 31, of Washington City, appeared in court before Judge John J. Walton for what would have been a preliminary hearing. Reid was named as a co-defendant with Bloomington Hills resident Heather Hill McCleery, 30, in connection with an allegedly racially-motivated riot that took place near the skimboard park by Waterfront Drive in St. George in June 2014.

McCleery, who pleaded not guilty to a felony charge related to the riot, allegedly triggered a fight with a group of Hispanics by the park. She allegedly called the members of the group derogatory names and then contacted others via her phone to join in, ultimately leading to a physical confrontation between the two sides, according to court documents.

Reid was accused of being one of the individuals who participated in the riot that resulted in physical injury to several individuals. At least one person was taken by ambulance to Dixie Regional Medical Center in St. George following the incident. Reid was subsequently charged with third-degree felony riot and a class A misdemeanor for assault with substantial bodily injury.

A witness who had been called to testify failed to appear, leading to Walton dismissing Reid’s case without prejudice, leaving the prosecutor free to refile charges at some future date.

McCleery’s case is set for a resolution hearing April 7.

Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.

Related posts

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @MoriKessler

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2015, all rights reserved.

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!

6 Comments

  • ladybugavenger January 26, 2015 at 2:02 pm

    Well, isn’t that fortunate that the witness was a no show

  • Free Parkimg January 26, 2015 at 9:15 pm

    Yeah dang tweekers

  • Dumb a$$ January 26, 2015 at 10:00 pm

    Lol see you said it again! I can’t handle it! It’s so funny

  • Violence is Silence January 27, 2015 at 5:59 am

    It’s only a matter of time before he’s back in jail, it’s not like he was at the wrong place at the wrong time, he’s been arrested a couple of times.

  • short crick blockhead January 27, 2015 at 8:50 am

    Street justice will take care of him. No witness’s….no crime. Riiiggghhhhtttt…..

  • TODRYT January 27, 2015 at 10:44 am

    If the intentional reaction of the situation creates a bilateral fundamental level of reasoning leading to a positive concept of. Now you see me and now you don’t. It is obvious at this point the theoretical scientific research and development of the factors of the law in question only shows the lack of integrity of the judicial system creating a lapse of professional judgement. And that is my professional opinion

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.