×
×
homepage logo
SUBSCRIBE

Driver in W. Bountiful auto-bicycle fatality has long criminal record

By Mark Shenefelt - | Jul 26, 2022

Adobe Stock

WEST BOUNTIFUL — A man suspected of driving while high on heroin and hitting and killing a bicyclist last week had served jail and prison time on four drug-related convictions, according to state court records.

Sean Douglas Mikesell, 29, was arrested Thursday evening after police said a pickup truck he was driving struck and killed 53-year-old Michael Scott Roberts and critically injured his 17-year-old daughter.

People in the area told police they heard the crash and one turned in time to see the bicyclists tumbling through the air. A West Bountiful Police Department social media post later said the teenager’s condition had been upgraded to stable and that she was expected to survive.

A police probable cause statement said Mikesell pulled over about 100 yards from the crash site on Pages Lane and declined to speak to investigators. He was taken to the Davis County Jail in Farmington, booked on suspicion of second-degree felony negligent automobile homicide, third-degree felony possession of a controlled substance and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia. The Davis County Attorney’s Office had not filed formal charges against Mikesell by Tuesday afternoon.

The arrest affidavit said Mikesell kept falling asleep while the arrestee was waiting for a sheriff’s deputy to draw his blood. Mikesell told the deputy who performed the blood draw that he uses intravenous drugs, the arrest affidavit said.

Photo supplied, Roberts family

Michael Scott Roberts

Police said they found several syringes in a storm drain next to the pickup truck’s right front wheel. One of the syringes was “new and loaded” with a narcotic, suspected to be heroin, the affidavit said.

Mikesell has six criminal convictions in Davis and Salt Lake counties, four involving possession of illegal drugs, according to state court records. Other charges included burglary, theft and forgery. In the most recent case, Mikesell pleaded guilty to second-degree felony assault by a prisoner. Charging documents said he and another Utah State Prison inmate beat and stabbed a fellow prisoner in 2018.

In an online obituary, Roberts’ family memorialized him as having “an illuminating smile and a tremendous sense of humor that filled our lives with laughter.” His hobbies included photography, historical research and especially bicycling. He often pedaled hundreds of miles a month, the family said.

Newsletter

Join thousands already receiving our daily newsletter.

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)