Utah father previously hailed a hero for saving his kids from freezing to death now charged with child abuse after shocking details emerged

A father who was praised back in October for saving his three children from freezing conditions after getting lost on a hike has now been charged with child abuse. Micah Smith may have heroically saved the lives of his young children in the Utah wilderness but what happened during their hike paints a picture that’s the opposite of a hero.

Earlier this year, Smith took his three children, his 8-year-old daughter, 4-year-old son, and his 2-year-old son, on a hike in Utah’s Big Cottonwood Canyon. Unfortunately for the family their trip went terribly wrong when they found themselves caught in a storm. 

The four were reported missing and found a day later. Two of the children were taken to hospital in critical condition while Smith and the third child were listed as being in “fair condition” according to an article from PEOPLE.

At the time, Micah Smith was hailed as a hero for managing to get his three children out of such a dangerous situation alive. A GoFundMe, which has since been deleted, claimed Micah Smith “bravely sacrificed himself.”

Micah Smith is charged with abuse

In a shocking turn of events the father has since been charged with aggravated child abuse and a second count of child torture. Documents reported by numerous news outlets would reveal the terrible truth of what happened while the father and his three kids were lost.

According to KSL, “the victims expressed that they were cold, tired and wanted to go home,” despite this, the father was allegedly ill-prepared for the hiking trip which could have easily turned deadly. He was labeled as “extremely selfish.” Upon their rescue Smith was apparently “behaving oddly,” Fox 13 reports that he did not seem to care about his own children.

The 4-year-old child required 25 minutes of CPR and had a temperature of 62.6 degrees when he was brought into hospital. He also suffered a stroke which resulted in him needing to have a portion of his skull removed. The 8-year-old daughter also had to perform CPR on her brother at one point.

This could have been avoided had Smith properly researched the trail he intended to take. The hike which he had chosen to take his kids on was considered difficult and not suitable for beginners of children. His choice directly endangered his own children, a video recorded on Smith’s phone shows his daughter asking him, “are we going to freeze to death, daddy?”

Clearly Micah Smith isn’t the hero he was portrayed as, his alleged actions are much more akin to a villain. It is currently unclear whether Smith has entered plea regarding his charges.