A fight breaks out between two prisoners at the Uintah County Jail

Posted by Travis Uresk | May 30th, 2023 | Assault |

By Travis Uresk

5/30/23

Vernal, Ut.-On 5/15/23, around noon, a fight broke out in Pod D of the Uintah County Jail.

Deputy Arias could see Inmate Vincente Hernandez-Sanchez kicking Inmate Malik Trayvion Irving. Inmate Hernandez-Sanchez kicked Inmate Irving twice.

Deputy Arias and Cpl. Van Leuven radioed for the Pod door to be opened, and upon entering the section, the officers instructed the Inmates in D Pod to rack in multiple times.

Deputy Arias made his way to the top tier of the section due to Irving and Hernandez-Sanchez not racking in. Once the Inmates were secured in their cells, Deputy Arias opened the cuff port to cell 2 in D Pod, handcuffed Inmate Hernandez- Sanchez, and then escorted him to F Pod cell 12 with two other officers.

The Video footage was reviewed of the incident, and it showed Irving entering Cell 1 of D Pod, where he is not housed and can be seen talking to someone. Irving appears to throw a punch toward an individual in the cell, at which point you see Irving backing up and Hernandez-Sanchez stepping forward and kicking Irving.

Both Inmates disappear briefly, and Irving reappears holding what appears to be a commissary bag. Irving is seen holding onto the bag for the entire altercation.

At one point, Irving is seen trying to close the cell door to close himself in and Hernandez-Sanchez in the cell. Hernandez-Sanchez pushes the door open to leave the cell, and Irving follows behind, still holding the commissary bag he picked up while in cell 1, and enters cell 2, where Irving is housed.

Hernandez-Sanchez follows Irving to cell 2 where he attempts to get the commissary bag back. Irving can be seen taking items out of the bag and placing them on a desk in his cell. Irving can be seen trying to get Hernandez-Sanchez into cell 2 multiple times, but Hernandez-Sanchez refuses. This is when officers responded and saw the altercation.

Deputy Arias started his investigation by talking with other Inmates and received witness statements that Irving did throw the first punch.

Hernandez-Sanchez was charged with assault by a prisoner X3, and Irving was charged with assault by a prisoner and theft.