Man arrested after allegedly posting photo of beaten victim on snapchat
Published at | Updated at
IDAHO FALLS – A local man was charged after reportedly posting a photo of another man he attacked on social media.
Donovan Wayne Helsing, 18, was charged with felony aggravated battery after a fight on Oct. 8.
A Bonneville County Sheriff’s deputy was dispatched to the emergency room at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center around 12:30 a.m. after hearing a patient had been attacked near South Ledge Rock Road in Ammon.
The patient was “in and out of consciousness” and “did not remember anything that had happened,” according to a written report from law enforcement.
When the deputy met with the victim, court documents say he had a “black eye and swelling around the eye socket, as well as dried blood on his face coming from his nose.”
Doctors told the deputy the victim had a broken orbital socket, broken sinus, and possibly one other broken bone in his face.
A witness who saw the fight said Helsing had confronted the victim and “accused him of punching his cousin.” The victim denied it, saying he told Helsing to “get out of his face.” Helsing then reportedly, “punched (the victim) in the face and knocked him unconscious.”
The witness also told the deputy that Helsing and his two friends hit the victim’s friend when he stepped in to help the victim.
The witness and the victim’s friend loaded the victim “into a vehicle and take him to the hospital as he was not waking up and was bleeding from his mouth and nose,” according to court documents.
The victim’s friend who corroborated the story to deputies and had bruises “on the back of his head and a small cut on the inside of his left cheek where he said he was hit.”
The mother of the victim later showed the deputy a photo on Snapchat from Helsing’s account, that showed “(The victim) knocked out on his truck bed with the caption; ‘This is what happens when you lay your hands on my cousin (sic) one hit out cold.'”
Helsing was later interviewed by the deputy and admitted to hitting the victim in the face.
“(The victim) jumped off his truck bed coming towards him so he hit him in the face once and knocked him out,” Helsing said, according to court documents.
Helsing denied hitting the victim’s friend.
Deputies arrested Helsing and booked him in the Bonneville County Jail. He posted a $15,000 bond on Oct. 11 and was released. A no-contact order was issued for the victim.
A preliminary hearing is set for Oct. 25. If convicted, he could face up to 15 years in prison.
Though Helsing has been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean he committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.