ST. GEORGE — A man suffered significant injuries when an argument escalated into an alleged attack by two suspects who struck the man multiple times in the head during a late-night party in Washington City.
On Saturday, officers responded to an assault at a residence on East Ruby Place, a subdivision just north of Interstate 15, shortly before 3 p.m. in Washington City.
Officers arrived to learn a man had been assaulted by two men hours earlier during a verbal altercation that escalated into a physical brawl.
Officers identified one suspect as 21-year-old Kyson William Certonio, who reportedly struck the man in the face with a motorcycle helmet, knocking the man out. Once he came to, the report states, he was struck again with a “cornhole” board, which is an angled board typically used in a popular lawn game. The incident also left the man with a possible fracture to his jaw.
Following the altercation, the man was seen at urgent care and reportedly was diagnosed with a concussion. He also was told an MRI scan needed to be conducted to determine if his jaw was broken.
Officers also viewed several photos taken shortly after the incident that showed extreme swelling to the side of the man’s face, as well as bruising underneath one of his eyes. One photo also showed dried blood that appeared to have come from the victim’s mouth, the officer noted.
When Certonio was tracked down by police, he explained he was at a party with a friend and both were talking to several individuals when an argument broke out.
As the verbal altercation became more heated, the suspect’s friend punched the man in the face multiple times, which is when Certonio jumped in, he said, and punched the man in the face several times as well.
At some point, the man was struck in the face with a motorcycle helmet, but Certonio told officers he was not the one wielding the helmet at the time.
Through the course of the investigation, officers identified the second suspect as 21-year-old Jovan Kristian Francis, who was reportedly responsible for striking the man at the party on Ruby Place.
When officers caught up with Francis at his home in Washington City, he confirmed he was at the party with a friend when two individuals started acting aggressively towards he and his friend, clarifying the altercation was not physical, only verbal at that point.
The report also says the suspect told officers it was the man who ended up injured that threw the first punch – a claim the officer noted was inconsistent with statements gathered from the other parties involved. When the motorcycle helmet was mentioned, police say, Francis reportedly admitted to striking the man in the head with the helmet but said he did so only after the victim was already on the ground from multiple blows to the head.
Washington City Police Chief Jason Williams told St. George News the man was scheduled for an MRI on Monday, the results of which were not available at the time of this report.
Williams also said that during the altercation, the man was trying to get up after being punched multiple times in the face, which is when he was struck in the face with the cornhole board, a strike that knocked him unconscious. It was after he was already knocked out and still on the ground that he was struck by the helmet.
Both suspects were arrested and transported to Purgatory Correctional Facility where Francis was booked on one third-degree felony count for aggravated assault with a weapon, while Certonio was booked on second-degree aggravated assault with serious bodily injury. Both have since been released from jail.
This report is based on statements from court records, police or other responders and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.
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