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GRANTSVILLE — A Grantsville man is facing a child abuse homicide charge after prosecutors say he did not do enough to prevent a boy from wandering onto a busy road.
Michael D. Montgomery, 73, was charged Tuesday in Tooele's 3rd District Court with the second-degree felony.
On Jan. 15, 2-year-old Zayden Ray Beck, 2 darted into traffic on Burmester Road near 6900 North, in front of his house in Grantsville, and was struck by a car, according to charging documents. The boy was taken to Mountain West Medical Center where he later died.
The same child "had been reported in the road … multiple times throughout the last several months," according to the charges.
The Tooele County Sheriff's Office was called to the toddler's house in January 2018 after "the child had been found walking in the middle of road," the charges state.
On Sept. 22, the same deputy who responded to the incident in January found a motorist pulled off to the side of the road with a child inside the car. The driver had "stopped to help the child because he was walking in the middle of the road and nobody was around," the charges state.
Zayden's mother told the deputy that "she had gone to smoke a cigarette and had left the child with the (Montgomery) and the child escaped. (Montgomery) indicated that he was on the computer and did not notice the child had left the room."
On Oct. 2, the same boy was spotted by motorists pushing a stroller down the middle of Burmester Road. Montgomery came out of the house after several minutes, "spanked him 'hard,' threw the child in the stroller, and took him back into the house," according to charging documents. He told police that the boy had gotten out through a back gate.
On Dec. 26, police say Zayden was spotted again walking down the road wearing only a diaper and at least three cars had to swerve to miss hitting the boy. Montgomery later came out of the house stating the boy had walked out while he was in his shop, the charges state.
Montgomery told deputies that he was again watching the toddler on Jan. 15 and that both he and Zayden had fallen asleep in front of the TV, according to police.
"The defendant stated that when he woke up, the victim was gone," the charges state. "When asked how the victim escaped from the home, the defendant responded that the victim must have got out through the dog door."
Montgomery allegedly told deputies he did not take the time to lock the dog door.
"Based on the totality of the circumstances, the defendant acted with criminal negligence when he did not take the time to lock the dog door. Over the last several months, the victim had escaped from the home multiple times and ended up on the road. This was a fact that the defendant knew and observed.
"Because the defendant knew that there was a substantial likelihood that the victim would try to escape and the defendant knew that when the victim escaped he liked to go to the road where the speed limit is 55 mph, the defendant ought to have been aware of the substantial and unjustifiable risk that the victim would be struck by a car and killed," prosecutors wrote in charging documents.
Montgomery's son was dating Zayden's mother and all of them lived in Montgomery's house. The Tooele County Attorney's Office said Zayden called Montgomery "Grandpa" even though there was no direct relationship.
The boy's mother was charged on Jan. 15, the day Zayden was hit and killed, with child abuse, a class B misdemeanor. The charge was for an incident on Dec. 26, according to court records. Court records do not indicate if it was also in connection with the incident on the same day that Zayden was found walking in the street. The next court hearing in that case is scheduled for March 6.
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Editor's note: In an earlier version, Michael Montgomery was identified as the boy's grandfather. Prosecutors say the boy called him "Grandpa," but there was no direct family tie.
