2 Sentenced In Mountain Wing-Joint Beatdown That Endangered Child

GOLDEN, CO – Two men convicted of a Pine Junction bar assault of a father with a young child –which inspired a manhunt after surveillance video was released – were sentenced in Jefferson County District Court.

On Jan. 11, Joel Michael Wilson, 32, was sentenced to six years in prison and Devin Lee Premer, 24, was sentenced to five years in prison, a statement from the JeffCo District's Attorney's Office said Tuesday.

The attack happened around 10 p.m. on Jan. 25, 2018 at Crossroads Pizza & Wings in the first block of Mt. Evans Boulevard in Pine Junction. Premer and Wilson picked a fight with Richard Brown, who was holding his four-year-old daughter at the time. Surveillance video released by the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department showed two men who began to throw punches while Brown carried the child on his hip.

Someone took the child from Brown who was beaten by Wilson and Premer.

"One man would hold him while the other inflicted blows with fists, punching him in the head, face, ribs, and face," the DA's office said in a statement. The victim, age 35, ended up being air-lifted to a hospital with injuries, including a lacerated spleen. The child was not injured.

Brown was later issued a summons for misdemeanor child abuse for endangering his daughter, the sheriff's department said.

“It is impossible to call this assault a 'bar fight' because Mr. Brown never fought back,” said District Attorney Pete Weir in a statement. “This was a brutal, one-sided attack by two men that could have stopped at any time.”

Wilson was arrested right away, but sheriff's deputies released video calling for the public's help and initiated a manhunt for Premer, who was arrested March 9, 2018 and held in Jefferson County jail on a $50,000 bond.

Joel Wilson pled guilty on Nov. 30, 2018 to second-degree assault and reckless endangerment. Devin Premer pled guilty on the same day to second-degree assault and child abuse.

Related: Suspect Arrested In JeffCo Wing Joint Brawl That Endangered Child

Related: Pine Junction Bar Brawl Endangers Child: JeffCo Sheriff [WATCH]

Images via Jefferson County DA's Office

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