{"id":72759,"date":"2026-11-10T18:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-11T00:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=72759"},"modified":"2026-11-10T07:16:24","modified_gmt":"2026-11-10T13:16:24","slug":"moorhead-man-gets-86-months-for-running-over-victim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/moorhead-man-gets-86-months-for-running-over-victim\/","title":{"rendered":"Moorhead Man Gets 86 Months for Running Over Victim"},"content":{"rendered":"

MOORHEAD, MN \u2013 (trfnews.i234.me)<\/a><\/strong> \u2013 A Moorhead man has been sentenced to prison after a violent vehicle assault left another man fighting for his life.<\/p>\n

Roel Rivera, 40, of Moorhead, was sentenced Monday, November 9, 2026, to 86 months in prison.<\/strong> The sentence follows his conviction for first-degree assault in Clay County.<\/p>\n

The case stems from an April 24 incident in which Rivera struck another man with a vehicle in a Moorhead field.<\/p>\n

Victim Found With Life-Threatening Injuries<\/h2>\n

According to court documents, officers responded to the area of 36th Street in Moorhead shortly before midnight.<\/p>\n

Emergency crews found a man lying in a field with severe injuries after being struck by a vehicle.<\/p>\n

The victim suffered a broken femur, multiple pelvic fractures, and more than a dozen broken ribs.<\/p>\n

He also suffered internal bleeding and required treatment in a hospital intensive care unit.<\/p>\n

The injuries were considered life-threatening.<\/p>\n

Witness Describes Terrifying Encounter<\/h2>\n

A woman at the scene identified Rivera, her ex-husband, as the driver involved in the assault.<\/p>\n

She told investigators she and the victim were walking toward a nearby Circle K gas station.<\/p>\n

The pair planned to meet someone who would give them a ride home to Fargo.<\/p>\n

While walking, the woman reportedly noticed Rivera driving around a nearby apartment building’s parking lot.<\/p>\n

According to the criminal complaint, the two began running after seeing his vehicle.<\/p>\n

The woman told investigators Rivera drove into a grassy field and struck the victim.<\/p>\n

\"Roel<\/a>
Roel Rivera<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rivera Gave Investigators Different Account<\/h2>\n

Rivera disputed the witness’s account when questioned by investigators.<\/p>\n

He claimed the victim had been throwing rocks at his vehicle before the incident.<\/p>\n

Rivera reportedly told investigators one rock broke through his windshield and struck him in the head.<\/p>\n

He claimed he suddenly regained awareness while driving through the grass.<\/p>\n

Rivera also said broken glass had affected his vision.<\/p>\n

He maintained that he did not realize his vehicle had struck the victim.<\/p>\n

Judge Imposes 86-Month Prison Sentence<\/h2>\n

Following the investigation, Rivera faced serious felony allegations connected to the incident.<\/p>\n

Moorhead police initially reported his arrest on suspicion of attempted second-degree murder and felony assault.<\/p>\n

Rivera was ultimately convicted of first-degree assault.<\/p>\n

On November 9, he received an 86-month prison sentence for the conviction.<\/p>\n

The victim’s current medical condition was not provided in the sentencing report.<\/p>\n

Additional information about the original investigation is available through the Moorhead Police Department<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The sentencing was reported by Valley News Live<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I’m Adrian Cole reporting for TRF News<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Roel Rivera of Moorhead was sentenced to 86 months in prison for first-degree assault after running over a man in a field, causing life-threatening injuries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":72773,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_bluesky_share_type":"","_mastodon_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"","timeOption":"","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":""},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12],"tags":[1136,13594,1197,1346,19194],"trf_mt_town":[29431],"trf_mt_county":[29513],"trf_mt_topic":[29493],"trf_mt_series":[],"class_list":["post-72759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-clay-county","tag-court-sentencing","tag-criminal-charges","tag-moorhead","tag-roel-rivera"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72759"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72759\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72774,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72759\/revisions\/72774"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72759"},{"taxonomy":"trf_mt_town","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/trf_mt_town?post=72759"},{"taxonomy":"trf_mt_county","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/trf_mt_county?post=72759"},{"taxonomy":"trf_mt_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/trf_mt_topic?post=72759"},{"taxonomy":"trf_mt_series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/trf_mt_series?post=72759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}