Good Samaritan killed in Arlington last year was ‘beaten to death,’ medical examiner testifies
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Good Samaritan killed in Arlington last year was ‘beaten to death,’ medical examiner testifies
JUNE 24, 2019
Forty-eight injuries, including fourteen broken ribs. A collapsed lung, a brain hemorrhage, a damaged pancreas, a liter of lost blood.
The Good Samaritan who intervened to try to stop a sexual assault in Arlington last fall was beaten so badly it was impossible to tell what killed him, a medical examiner testified Monday.
“Essentially, he was beaten to death,” Chantel Njiwaj said at a preliminary hearing in district court.
The brutality and intensity of Julio Patricio Salazar’s death was evidence, prosecutors successfully argued, of the malice of his alleged killer — 27-year-old Michael Nash.
It was “unprovoked and unnecessary,” Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Frank Frio told a judge. “Julio Patricio Salazar was trying to help this screaming woman who was being sexually assaulted.”
Hundreds of strangers have been moved by the fatal act of kindness and donated money to Salazar’s family, who promised to give the funds to organizations fighting sexual violence in Virginia and his home country of Bolivia.
Defense attorney Damon Colbert said Nash “was not in his right mind” and had no intent to kill Salazar, 54. “This man was out of his mind,” he said.
Judge Jason Rucker found probable cause to move the case against Nash to circuit court. He is charged with first-degree murder, abduction with intent to defile, forced sodomy and object penetration.
The woman Salazar tried to help was Nash’s then-girlfriend, who testified that he was “strange that day.”
“It was like he wasn’t the same person,” she said.
The Washington Post generally does not identify victims of alleged sexual assault.
They had been walking around Arlington on Oct. 18 when he began arguing with her about the science fiction she was reading on her phone, she said.
“He said that we’re supposed to die, that he has to kill me,” she said.
The dispute was loud enough to attract police, but they were interviewed separately and allowed to leave together. By evening, they ended up on South George Mason Drive and Columbia Pike, on the edge of a poorly lit park.
“It started getting out of control,” the woman testified. “I wanted to just get away.” She began walking ahead of Nash. He pursued her, she said, and pushed her so she fell face first on the sidewalk. She testified that he began beating her, stripping her of her clothing and touching her sexually.
“He just kept hitting me, and I was just yelling and screaming,” she said. When he began taking off her clothes, she said, “I just let him. . .I felt that it was no use” to resist. At one point, she said, he picked her up and threatened to throw her over a railing and into a sewer.
“He hit me in the head a lot of times; I was kind of going in and out,” she added.
Her screams drew the attention of Bradley Flood, who was in his apartment across the street. Salazar was also moved to help. He appeared behind the couple, the woman testified, and Nash began hitting him.
She said Nash used both hands to bash the man’s head into the sidewalk. “He was still yelling at me, that it was my fault,” she said.
That is when Flood came to the scene. Nash threatened to kill him if he called police, Flood testified. He could see blood on one of Nash’s hands. So Flood backed off, getting a passing driver to call the police. When Nash ran off, Flood approached again and found Salazar bleeding heavily and struggling to breathe. Nearby was a naked woman, curled up in a ball and “very distraught.” She told him, “My boyfriend, he snapped.”
In Facebook messages in the days after the attack, according to evidence, she wrote, “Mike is a good guy who needs mental help. . .The guy who chose to involve himself was just a casualty of war.”
Nash was arrested soon after, and in an interview, he told police he and his girlfriend “were on the road to redemption” when he attacked her, Det. Jamey Trainer testified.
“He said he gets short-tempered and very stressed and just snapped,” Trainer said. Nash said he had not been sleeping well and was worried his girlfriend was cheating on him. He told the detectives that neither she nor Salazar deserved what had happened, the detective said.
Nash told them Salazar “was just trying to help her.”
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The good samaritan was 54, the killer was 27.
If you are going to intervene to stop an act of violence you have to be able to be violent yourself. Try to sneak up on the bad guy with a baseball bat or pipe in your hand and hit him in the head with it. You definitely don't want to get into a fight with a maniac.
Of course, you could end up killing the bad guy, and if you misinterpreted the situation you could be in big trouble yourself.
But it was a very bad idea for a 54 year old to try and stop a 27 year old maniac without having a weapon.
No doubt. One needs to be careful. There are some really bad people in this world.
Couple thoughts. First, this is a good example of when a gun could have done some positive if the 54 year old was carrying. Second, they boyfriend is clearly messed up but so is the girlfriend. Calling the good Samaritan a "casualty of war" and defending the guy who beat him to death?
Now that is really messed up.
If the good samaritan had a gun he would have to shoot to kill. If he shot to wound the maniac would keep coming. I guess it depends on how far away he was from the guy.
The possibilities are endless really but in this case the person was not allowed to carry in that location so its really just a moot point.
I just brought it up because bad gun related events always get splashed all over the mass media. The positive potential rarely does.
It's the anti gun bias that clearly exists in the media.
I have no problem with that. Shooting to wound is foolish.
If you kill the guy you may face a murder charge, depending on the circumstances you are intervening into.
I'll take my chances. If I have to shoot someone I want to make sure hit them and that they stay shot.
I was taught that the reason to fire a weapon at another person should be to kill.
What is the point otherwise?
Exactly!
Carrying a gun is a serious responsibility. If one isn't prepared to shoot to kill if needed, they shouldn't be carrying. Any good concealed carry permit class covers this concept at length.
That said, even if one thinks they are prepared to shoot to kill someone if needed, one never knows if they can actually go through with it until if and when it happens. But the person should have at minimum, mentally prepared to do it if needed.
Otherwise ..... don't carry.
No prior mental preparation for it, almost assures failure.
Did I just hallucinate, or did the girlfriend receiving the brutal boyfriend beat-down just say that the murder victim was 'just a casualty of war'?
And John, you can stick your agreement with her comment straight up your rear-end (as you hide behind the nearest tree). I'll jump on the pile and help her out...even knowing what it could mean to my personal welfare. If you are too weak to deal with it, you grab the nearest brick or rock or stick and keep hitting until boyfriend doesn't move any more. Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Sister, get a grip. You seem to have it our for me lately.
Where do you see me saying I agree with the girlfriend? All I said is that if you want to stop a maniac without getting yourself killed have a baseball bat in your hand.
You need to stop calling me out with no basis.
Whatever, Mary.
Should I flag you, lol?
So you are going to stand there and watch...or perhaps stroll off and finish your shopping?
Flag away.
I am not responsible for your imagination.
You only have 3 choices. Stand and watch. Walk away. Jump on the pile and do anything you can to get boyfriend off of her.
Sorry if you are offended, but I was raised to stop and help when someone is in trouble. I can't help it. I'm a sucker for the underdog. Verbal and/or physical, it's a reflex that just kicks in. You, of all people, should know that.
I did not say or imply that I would not immediately jump the guy.
This 54 year old man had every bone in his body broken by that animal. He should have picked up something to use as a weapon.
Some guys have a tendency to think that they can beat anyone up, and that is hardly ever the case.
Stop jumping to conclusions.
Article locked due to off topic comments.