Spokane7
61°
December 22, 2011 in City
Drunken fight in park ends life of friend
A Spokane man accused of killing his friend in Riverfront Park after a night of drinking told police he was so intoxicated that he didn’t realize who he was assaulting until he saw his shoes, according to court documents filed Wednesday.
Yukio M. Rideb, 21, told officers Romero J. Vivit, III, needed medical attention but was still breathing when he left him in the park early Saturday after the drunken assault. Rideb will remain in the Spokane County Jail on $500,000 bond after appearing in court Wednesday on a second-degree murder charge. Divers pulled Vivit’s body from the Spokane River on Tuesday.
Rideb, who police say told them he left Vivit, 21, in the park and suggested they look for him in a Dumpster, was arrested shortly after the victim’s body was found.
An autopsy was conducted on Vivit Wednesday, but the cause of death has not been released.
Vivit’s mother, Clair Sarsozo, told The Spokesman-Review on Wednesday her son’s death “is a hard one to wrap your brain around.”
Sarsozo said Vivit will be cremated. She is asking for his friends to submit letters, photos and cards to remember him. The family is creating a website for mourners to keep in touch.
Rideb and Vivit attended North Central High School together.
Rideb told police he and his sister, Emilia L. Granlund, were drinking with Vivit at downtown bars before Vivit and Rideb ended up fighting near the Looff Carrousel in Riverfront Park, according to court documents filed Wednesday. Vivit’s roommate went looking for him early Saturday after he didn’t return home. He found Vivit’s coat with blood stains near the carousel and noticed a puddle of blood on the ground. He also found Vivit’s baseball hat on Riverside Avenue. Park staff cleaned up the blood later that day but contacted police after hearing of the missing persons investigation.
Vivit’s roommate contacted police again on Sunday and said he’d spoken with Rideb, who said he’d been in a drunken fight with Vivit in the park. Rideb spoke with Officer Todd Brownlee on the phone and said he’d “blacked out and continued hitting Vivit longer than he should have,” according to court documents. Rideb said “he stopped after he recognized Vivit’s shoes.”
He tried to get Vivit up and take him home, but Vivit told him to go away.
That same day, Officer Nate Donaldson spoke to three of Vivit’s friends, including the mother of his 2-year-old son, who said they contacted Rideb at his girlfriend’s apartment. Rideb told them he blacked out and awoke kicking someone he later realized was Vivit. Rideb’s girlfriend, Samantha Bennett, told a friend Rideb arrived home early Saturday covered in blood. The friend said she’d gone looking for Vivit in the park and found blood puddles near the carousel “that seemed to go toward the river.”
The blood stains had been pressure washed by park staff by the time police arrived.
Vivit’s brother, Anthony Vivit, told police Rideb told him he’d stomped Romero Vivit’s face “until it was unrecognizable,” according to court documents. He said Rideb told him Vivit “may have fallen into the river.”
Friends also showed police pictures Bennett had taken of heavily stained shoes that they said belonged to Rideb.
Rideb spoke with Detective Marty Hill on Monday and said after a “great, fantastic” night at downtown bars, he blacked out and went into a rage. He said he stayed with Vivit for an hour or so as he cried and tried to call a friend for help, but his phone was dead. But detectives say Rideb’s phone wasn’t dead. Rideb then said he didn’t think to use it. “I was pissed and left and scared with what was going on,” he told police, according to court documents.
Rideb already is on state Department of Corrections probation for a year after pleading guilty in September to third-degree assault and violation of a domestic violence no-contact order. He was arrested in August and spent 26 days in jail. He was released after sentencing with credit for time served.
Human trafficking suspects released 
The_Seer on December 22 at 8:55 a.m.
How many people have ever blacked out and brutally beat to death anyone after ingesting marijuana?
BlondeSquawker on December 22 at 9:09 a.m.
Who murders their friend?
mtharves on December 22 at 10:40 a.m.
How does a bar let a customer get that drunk? I thought there were rules for that.
mrd on December 22 at 10:58 a.m.
If anyone believes this guys story about blacking out, maybe they have smoked too much today. I know quite a few mj users who sit on their butts all day stoned and being non productive burdens on society. You probably know some also. To say mj is harmless is foolish.
The_Seer on December 22 at 11:11 a.m.
^^^^^^^
The last time I checked, “mj” is pretty expensive due to the black market. Most of the people I know who smoke are very productive people as that quality is required to provide for their “mj.”
Just sayin’.
MrBloggy on December 22 at 11:45 a.m.
Likely Ron Paul supporters and Libertarian Party members - heavy MJ use, belief that govt shouldn’t regulate private behavior in city parks, belief that waterways should be free to the open commerce and traffic of all citizens …
liberal_in_right_wing_land on December 22 at 12:57 p.m.
You people would be amazed at who I use to sell pot to when I was in college…….doctors, stay at home mothers, lawyers, police officers (no joke), politicians, teachers, professors, grandma and grandpa and just about everyone else you can think of.
Sorry, not everyone who smokes pot is an unproductive member of society, in fact, they very well could be your doctor, lawyer, boss, friend, neighbor or even wife or husband…..I cannot tell you how many middle class 9-5 professionals I sold to that never told their spouse that they smoked a bowl everyday after works to relax and calm down, and many people that usually wont even drink a beer.
Calling all marijuana users unproductive is like saying all people who drink are rednecks who beat their wives in tank tops.
ChefGus/ John Olsen on December 22 at 3:26 p.m.
As a person who in the midst of the street and low income people who come to the House Of Charity for food twice a day… i would simply say that I’d much rather have to deal with MJ intoxication than alcohol every day of the week… that “legal” drug which most of us use does cause a great deal of loss of impulse control which often results in assault and rape and violence that is often not remembered by the perps… I’ve had men and women agress on me that have no memory of it the next day… 911 is my friend…. detox is their friend…. you can die from acute alcohol ingestion or from withdrawal from chronic alcohol abuse..and blackouts are a sure sign of Alcoholism at is worst.. john
Middleman on December 22 at 4:09 p.m.
Ummmmm….What does this article have to do with marijuana use? Did I miss something. 6 out of the 7 posts are about MJ? No, I’m not an MJ prohibitioner at all, but there is not one speck of the story being about drugs (other than alcohol). Are you people poised at the keyboard all day just salivating over the prospect of advertising your pot use? Just wondering why this article brings out the pot user comments.
Middleman on December 22 at 4:16 p.m.
To be honest…Alcohol is way worse than marijauna in my opinion. I agree that very few crimes are committed when under the influence of pot as compared with alcohol. It’s not even close actually. Many of you may know that I am a teacher. My kids don’t operate well under the influence of either substance. And I don’t think either of them should EVER be legal for them to use until they are 21.
Ed Byrnes on December 22 at 4:48 p.m.
Middleman I concur with your assessment of comparative harm and absolutely agree with you about age limits.
I think many of us who are professional, productive people are tired of being stereotyped by others and persecuted for a benign private behavior, hence these comments come out.
Ed
Notapatriot on December 22 at 11:18 p.m.
Get him off the planet.
misjustice on December 22 at 11:46 p.m.
“How many people have ever blacked out and brutally beat to death anyone after ingesting marijuana?”
No one that I know.
Juice/alcohol? Now, that’s a different story…
drywitt99 on December 27 at 1:19 p.m.
To the supporters of 1083: look forward to more, and MORE of this….