A 4th District judge ruled last week that a Utah County deputy will face a jury after he struck and killed a Brigham Young University student in 2021, court documents show.
The deputy, Joe Richardson, 53, was criminally charged with manslaughter in connection with the Provo wreck that killed 22-year-old Joseph Spencer, according to court documents. Richardson pleaded not guilty on Dec. 13.
Richardson’s trial is set for June 26-27 and June 29.
On March 16, 2021, Joseph Spencer was pulling out of a Taco Bell parking lot at 433 North and 900 East in Provo when Richardson crashed into Spencer’s vehicle, killing the student.
According to the Utah County Sheriff’s Office, Richardson had been heading to the scene of a police standoff involving an armed man in Pleasant Grove that afternoon. No one was injured in the standoff. The black truck that Richardson was driving was his personal vehicle and was not equipped with lights or sirens, police said.
(Photo courtesy of the Provo Police Department) Joseph Spencer, 22, died after a truck hit his car as he pulled out of a parking lot.
Data collected from Richardson’s vehicle showed that he was traveling at about 56 mph just before the fatal crash as he drove southbound on 900 East, where the speed limit is 35 mph, charging documents state.
Richardson crashed into Spencer as the student was trying to turn left.
“As I was coming down here I saw him start to pull out in front of me,” Richardson told authorities, according to the charging documents. “I shouldn’t ... I shouldn’t have tried to beat him.”
After the wreck, Richardson rendered aid to Spencer, the document reads, but Spencer was declared dead at the scene. The cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head, a medical examiner determined.
Richardson’s attorneys want him to be charged with negligent homicide instead of manslaughter, according to a memorandum filed in November. But prosecutors said there is enough evidence to charge Richardson with manslaughter after he “recklessly caused the death of another.”
Spencer’s family had filed a lawsuit against Richardson, the Utah County Sheriff’s Office, Utah County and Taco Bell, but dropped Richardson from the suit in August, according to court documents.
Spencer was “quiet and easygoing, but quick-witted,” according to his online obituary. “He had an infectious laugh and smile, and he loved to make others laugh.”
At the time of his death, he had recently served a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in San Diego, the obituary states. A BYU spokesperson said Spencer had been majoring in information technology.
