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SALT LAKE CITY — A bizarre traffic incident has the former executive director of Mary Kaye Huntsman's Power in You Foundation facing a felony assault charge.
The motorcyclist involved asked that KSL only use his first name, Mark, and conceal his identity. He said said the former executive, Mary Bangerter, tried to run him down with her car.
"I thought that I was going to get crashed into and get hurt really bad," Mark said.
Mark said he has no idea what prompted Bangerter to swerve into his lane on April 3, but he thinks she was likely distracted.
"She was on her phone, and she hit me," he said. "Was I hurt? No. Was my bike hurt? No. and it was a simple accident."
He said he told Bangerter he was going to call the police, and that's when she became angry.
"She swerved at me," Mark said.
Another driver in a truck near them intervened and came between Mark's motorcycle and Bangerter's car.
"She pulls up and starts yelling (that) we've messed up," Mark said. "She's yelling and screaming, and she looks like my grandma. She looks like my old grandma, and that's out of character."
Mark said the incident continued into the Gateway. "She starts punching the guy's truck, yanking on the door handle as they're rolling the windows up."
Bangerter is the former executive director of the Power in You Foundation, run by Utah's former first lady Mary Kaye Huntsman. Bangerter also serves on the board for Choice Humanitarian.
Now she's been charged with aggravated assault, a third-degree felony. Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said witnesses backed up Mark's story.
Bangerter declined an interview with KSL News at the advice of her attorney, Ron Yengich. He spoke with us over the phone and said he doesn't believe the evidence in the case backs up Mark's story.
"I don't believe this could have happened in the way that he says it happened," Yengich said.
Bangerter's preliminary hearing is scheduled in mid-October.
