A Utah father who was initially hailed as a hero for rescuing his three young children from a mountain hike has been arrested and charged with aggravated child abuse and child torture. Micah Smith, 31, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on Tuesday in connection with an October hike on the strenuous Broads Fork Trail in Big Cottonwood Canyon.
Smith and his children, aged 8, 4, and 2, became trapped in a storm during the outing and were reported missing. Rescuers found them the next day, discovering the 4-year-old lying on top of the 2-year-old, both unconscious and not breathing. Two of the children were hospitalised in critical condition; the 4-year-old later suffered a stroke and required part of his skull to be removed after arriving with a body temperature of just 62.6 degrees.
According to charging documents, authorities accuse Smith of choosing to 'summit a mountain over the safety of the kids.' Investigators say he continued the steep ascent despite worsening weather and repeated pleas from his children that they were cold, tired and frightened. In a video recorded by Smith, his daughter can be heard asking, 'Are we going to freeze to death, daddy?' Yet Smith pressed on.
At one point, officials say Smith taught his daughter how to perform CPR before leaving the children on the mountain and attempting to head down alone. First responders later performed 25 minutes of CPR on the 4-year-old during the rescue. The daughter told investigators she begged her father multiple times to turn back as the storm intensified, but he refused, insisting it was a 'once-in-a-lifetime' experience and blocking her from going back down.
Smith had prior run-ins with police, including an incident a month before the hike when officers found him with two guns and an axe after he expressed suicidal thoughts. On November 10, he was accused of trespassing at Primary Children's Hospital, interfering with his son's medical care. Prosecutors wrote that Smith's behaviour was 'clearly spiraling' and that he posed a danger to himself and the victims.
