Officers discovered legally justified in Murray and Taylorsville police shootings

SALT LAKE CITY — Law enforcement officials who shot and killed a person armed with a rifle, and officers who shot one other man who tried to run them over in a separate incident had been legally justified in utilizing lethal pressure.

Salt Lake County District Lawyer Sim Gill introduced these conclusions involving two completely different police shootings on Thursday.

One taking pictures occurred on Sept. 13, 2023, when Murray police pulled over Kelsey Raymond Robinson within the parking zone of Style Place Mall for a site visitors violation. When officer Bryan Talbot ran the license plate and found it was listed as stolen, he known as for a backup officer to answer the scene.

However as the 2 officers tried to take Robinson into custody, he threw his car into reverse. One officer “made contact” with the car however was in a position to keep away from turning into pinned, based on Gill’s last report.

“I simply keep in mind seeing this automobile accelerating, like in direction of me. I imply, legit, the automobile’s rear windshield was like in my face. … I needed to leap out of the way in which, to my left. So I jumped out of the way in which, and proper behind me was Talbot’s push bumper on his automobile. So, I imply I used to be a half-second away from getting pinned simply in between each automobiles,” Murray police officer Thomas Yates mentioned within the report.

Talbot was “scooped” into the driving force’s aspect door and carried a brief distance earlier than Robinson’s automobile crashed into an officer’s patrol automobile.

“Because the influence occurred, officer Talbot’s physique slammed into the within door body, his head additionally showing to hit the car, and the open driver’s door slammed onto him. Mr. Robinson then shortly turned the steering wheel to the fitting, and commenced accelerating ahead. As he did so, officer Talbot maneuvered out from the car and drew his firearm,” based on the report.

Talbot fired 4 instances into the car. Robinson crashed into one other parked car, pushing it 8 ft, earlier than persevering with out of the parking zone, the report states.

Talbot suffered a concussion and minor accidents to his arm and leg. He was handled at an area hospital.

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Robinson, 30, of Indianapolis, Indiana, was arrested following a high-speed chase in Colorado. He was handled at a hospital for 2 gunshot wounds to his arm, the district lawyer’s report states.

Robinson was later charged in third District Court docket with two counts of assault on an officer leading to harm, a second-degree felony, and different costs. In February, Robinson pleaded responsible to assault on a police officer, a second-degree felony, and was sentenced in April to a time period of 1 to fifteen years within the Utah State Jail.

Taylorsville taking pictures

Within the second case by which Gill discovered an officer’s use of lethal pressure to be legally justified, police responded late at night time on Oct. 4, 2023, to 3852 W. Ridgecrest Drive on a report of an armed home violence incident. Joseph Nicholas Potts, 34, was reported to be intoxicated, suicidal and armed, the report states.

Simply earlier than officers arrived on the scene, his spouse and 3-month-old toddler had been in a position to flee the house to a neighbor’s home unhurt.

Potts started firing photographs with a rifle inside the home, based on police. Taylorsville police, who initially responded to the decision, requested assist from the West Valley police SWAT group.

West Valley police detective Tyler Thompson, a member of the SWAT group, was positioned as a sniper on a neighboring rooftop, based on Gill’s report.

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Early within the morning on Oct. 5, about two hours after the preliminary 911 name, Potts walked out of his residence “carrying a ballistic plate service on his torso and armed with a rifle. Mr. Potts then crouched down towards the bottom on the west aspect of the driveway, between a parked car and a fence on the west property line, and as later described by detective Thompson, appeared to drop an IR ChemLight (a military-grade infrared gentle stick) and drop one thing on the bottom subsequent to it. Mr. Potts then laid in a inclined place together with his head and rifle pointed straight south — within the route of the three officers who had been positioned on the roof throughout the road,” the report says.

“As he did so, detective Thompson whispered, ‘That is an IR ChemLight,’ ‘And mags,’ after which, ‘He is aiming at us,'” based on the report, which additionally famous that officers watching Potts from the rooftop feared he “might have entry to IR night time imaginative and prescient.”

Thompson fired 4 instances from about 38 yards away, placing and killing Potts.

Gill mentioned he met with Potts’ widow previous to asserting his determination on Thursday. He says that she wished to convey that the actions of her husband that night time weren’t typical of who he was. Gill says Potts was a veteran who was affected by post-traumatic stress points. Gill once more famous that Might is Psychological Well being Consciousness month. And as he has previously, he once more emphasised the necessity for getting veterans the assistance and correct therapy they want.

Gill is holding a press convention Thursday to indicate physique digicam movies and focus on how he reached his conclusions in regards to the two police shootings.

This story will likely be up to date.