Prosecutor moves to dismiss charges against local man accused in wife’s death
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ISLAND PARK – A Fremont County man could be cleared of all charges regarding the death of his wife in a UTV crash in 2021.
Scott Taylor was charged in May 2022 with felony vehicular manslaughter, misdemeanor driving under the influence and misdemeanor resisting and obstructing an officer.
On September 17, 2021, dispatchers received a 911 call from Scott, who said he and his wife, Tonya Taylor, had been involved in a single-vehicle accident in the Big Springs area in Island Park, and Tonya was trapped under the UTV and submerged in water.
According to the original criminal complaint, Scott “did unlawfully, but without malice, kill Tonya Taylor by operation of a motor vehicle.”
The documents say he failed to maintain control of the blue Polaris UTV by striking a tree and rolling the UTV, which caused it to tip into a pond, trapping Tonya in the water underneath and ultimately killing her.
Court records show a stipulation to dismiss all charges with prejudice filed by the prosecution on Feb. 6. District Judge Steven Boyce has yet to issue a ruling on the motion.
(When charges are dismissed with prejudice, they cannot be filed again.)
Both sides weighed in on the motion.
Fremont County Prosecuting Attorney Rocky Wixom provided a statement to EastIdahoNews.com, explaining that his office moved to dismiss the charges partially because of a new expert witness.
“The state made its decision to dismiss the charges against Scott Taylor based upon a number of circumstances, including a recently disclosed expert opinion provided by the defense,” said Wixom.
According to a news release from Taylor’s defense attorney, Allen Browning, the prosuector moved to dismiss all charges against Mr. Taylor “in the interests of justice.”
Browning’s release states that an accident reconstruction engineer, Dr. Jay Przybyla of Focus Forensics in Utah, proved that Taylor was not driving the UTV at the time of the accident.
Browning says Taylor was also not intoxicated at the time of the accident, which was previously alleged.
“Dr. Pryzbyla confirmed that the evidence pointed to Tonya and Scott as being restrained in the vehicle and unharmed when the vehicle initially rolled over,” says the release. “There was no evidence that Scott had been driving at that time, and no evidence he was intoxicated either.”
Browning says Tonya was driving the UTV with Scott as a passenger, and when she turned by a pond, the vehicle flipped on its right side.
“The coroner’s report revealed that Tonya had been in the safety harness when the vehicle tipped over, and examination of the seats of the 4×4 showed that the shorter person — Tonya, not Scott — had been driving when the vehicle tipped,” says the release.
Tonya and Scott survived the tipping-over of the UTV, as they were both restrained with seatbelts.
“Scott undid his harness and Tonya’s harness, and she fell into his arms,” says the release. “He put her feet downward on the door of the vehicle, and as he was climbing up to get out, she had begun to get out on the passenger side, and the unstable vehicle suddenly rolled over on top of her, pinning her head under the water.”
According to Browning, Scott tried to pull the vehicle back, but it would not move. He then ran for help and called 911. A sheriff’s deputy came and tried to help but could not.
“By the time a vehicle with a tow-strap was able to free Tonya from the vehicle, attempts to revive her failed,” says the release.
Scott pleaded not guilty to all charges and has continually proclaimed his innocence, including in a statement to EastIdahoNews.com in 2022, where he relayed that he disagreed with the initial charges.
RELATED | Man charged with vehicular manslaughter after UTV crash last year
“They said we hit a tree. … There’s no tree within 300 feet of where the accident happened, and she was driving. She just overcut, and it rolled, and we were out of it,” he said.
Scott said the UTV rolled on Tanya, and said he believes that first responders are at fault, because when they tried pulling the UTV off of her, a harness slipped and they re-dropped the vehicle on her neck.
The original criminal complaint alleges that Scott was driving while under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or an intoxicating substance. Additionally, the criminal complaint says he willfully resisted, delayed, or obstructed a police officer in the discharge of their duties.
“The cops drug me out of the ambulance and tried to interrogate me right then so I went off on them,” he said. “They are the ones who probably could have killed her.”
A jury trial is still scheduled for Feb. 27, and we will update if the court schedule changes.