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Saratoga Springs and two of its officers, who shot and killed Darrien Hunt, will argue at trial that the officers acted "in self-defense" when they fired at the sword-carrying man last September, attorneys announced Wednesday in their response to a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by Hunt's family last month.
Attorneys on both sides have asked for a jury trial, which has not yet been scheduled. Lawyers already are sparring in court papers about what happened Sept. 10, when Cpl. Matthew Schauerhamer and Officer Nicholas Judson encountered Hunt after a 911 caller reported a man walking with a samurai-style sword near Redwood Road and State Road 73.
Attorney Heather White, who represents the city and the two officers, called Hunt's death "a preventable tragedy" during a Wednesday morning news conference, saying the officers acted in self-defense and to protect others when Hunt fled toward a retail area after officers initially fired upon him.
"He had a choice," White said of Hunt. "Had he not swung the sword at the officers and run with it toward a crowd of people, he would be alive today."
White said that in addition to the officers' claims that Hunt swung the sword at them, two witnesses also saw Hunt swing the sword. But Robert Sykes, who represents Hunt's mother in the federal lawsuit, said last month that they don't believe the 22-year-old biracial man ever swung the sword and that at least one of the witnesses based his account on an assumption that the man swung the sword and caused the officers to react with deadly force.
The two officers offered investigators conflicting accounts of when Hunt allegedly unsheathed his sword: Judson said Hunt lifted the sword upward and swung at Schauerhamer, while Schauerhamer recalled that Hunt drew the sword and "jumped" at Judson, according to a Utah County attorney's office investigative report.
After the two officers fired several shots at Hunt, he ran from them and the officers gave chase. Schauerhamer fired several more rounds as he chased the man before he collapsed near a Panda Express.
Sykes said that witnesses reported to Utah County attorney's office investigators that in the final moments of the shooting episode, Hunt's pants appeared to be falling down as he was running from police. At some point, Hunt — who already had been wounded by earlier shots — tripped and fell.
Sykes said the bullet that killed Hunt was likely fired while Hunt was falling or already on the ground.
"There was no bullet holes in his pants, because they were already down," Sykes said. " … We think that Schauerhamer shot Darrien when he was essentially helpless and no threat."
But White said Wednesday that Hunt was not shot while on the ground and was not shot because he was running away from the officers.
"Hunt was shot because he was running toward a busy retail area with an unsheathed samurai sword," White wrote in court papers. "Had Hunt dropped the sword at any time, the officers would have continued chasing him on foot."
Hunt's family is suing the two officers, as well as Saratoga Springs, in Salt Lake City's U.S. District Court, claiming they violated the man's civil rights. The lawsuit says Hunt had a right to carry the sword and that he was "peaceful and nonthreatening at all times."
White said Wednesday that a trial likely won't take place for another 18 to 36 months as attorneys gather evidence and hold witness depositions.
An autopsy report said Hunt was shot six times, with the direction of fire of four bullets being from back to front, while the medical examiner described the direction of the other two bullets as "downward" and "left to right and slightly downward." Bullets struck Hunt's right back, right upper arm, right forearm, left upper arm, left elbow and left hip.
No illegal drugs were found in Hunt's system, according to the autopsy.
Hunt's family members have said they believe the officers fired on Hunt, in part, because he was black, though Sykes said he "isn't sure" if race was an issue in the shooting. White stressed during Wednesday's news conference that race had no role in the shooting.
"We really want the public to understand that race did not play a factor in the shooting," she said. "His actions were that he swung the sword at an officer and that creates an immediate threat of danger or harm, giving the officers the right to defend themselves."
Utah County Attorney Jeff Buhman ruled in November that the two officers were justified in using deadly force against Hunt because they believed the man might harm or kill them or others.
Sykes said the Hunt family is asking for more than $2 million in the lawsuit. The family also wants a declaration and judgment that the shooting was unconstitutional, and that Saratoga Springs be ordered to equip its police officers with body cameras. Judson wore a camera during the Hunt shooting but did not turn it on.
In addition, the family wants officers to carry nonlethal weapons while on patrol and to receive training regarding the use of lethal force.
Judson told investigators that he was also carrying a Taser and a baton on the day of the shooting, but used his handgun because of the threat level. Schauerhamer told investigators that his Taser was broken, and he didn't wear it because it caused cysts on his back. He told investigators that if he did have a Taser during the confrontation with Hunt, he would not have used it "in a billion years."
"He had a sword and it was so fast and so violent," Schauerhamer told investigators. "It was so fast and so violent that that was the only option. It was either him or us."
Twitter: @jm_miller —
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O Recent officer-involved shootings have drawn public outcry and scrutiny of how police officers are trained, how such shootings are investigated and when lethal force is justified.
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