A New Mexico man had only been in the area for a few hours when he allegedly assaulted a Roosevelt man, injuring him to the point of needing reconstructive surgery. 43-year-old Ruben Yazzie was arrested for the offenses of Intoxication and Aggravated Assault Resulting In Serious Bodily Injury on December 21st, less than 6 hours after arriving in the area to work on an oil rig. The Affidavit of Probable Cause states the following: “When officers arrived they found one male individual in the roadway on Hillcrest Drive who was covered in blood. The male individual was identified as Ruben Yazzie from New Mexico. Ruben was detained and had a strong odor of alcohol on his breath and also had alcohol in the pockets of his jacket. [The officer] found that the other individual was still in [the] apartment. [The officer] entered the apartment and could see drops of blood on the floor leading to the living room area in the back of the apartment. [He] found that there was also blood in the downstairs bathroom and bloody rags in the kitchen garbage. [The victim] was sitting on the couch with blood covering his face and with gash marks in his head and face…the couch was covered in blood along with the carpet in front of the couch. [The victim] stated that he was hit in the head with a bolt from the drilling rig.” Officers found the bolt and it was taken into evidence. The victim reported being asleep on the couch when he was woken up by being hit in the head and he saw Ruben walking away from him with the bolt in his hands. The men were taken to the hospital where interviews were conducted. The investigation determined that Ruben had used the rig bolt to assault the victim causing injury to the face and head and he was arrested. The victim was sent to a Wasatch Front hospital to be treated by a plastic surgeon for facial reconstruction.
