Off-duty Salt Lake County sheriff's Detective Rudy Chacon acted to protect his brother and did nothing wrong when he shot and wounded a man during a September bar melee, the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office said Thursday.

The narcotics detective shot 26-year-old John Junior Pikula at the Green Street Social Club in the early-morning hours of Sept. 19. The shot struck Pikula's left arm, hit a rib and ricocheted into his colon.

Although he had been drinking, the report found Chacon was not impaired when he fired the shot, and a forensic pathologist's report backs his claim that Pikula was attacking his brother when he fired. That is a different account than Pikula's attorney has offered.

The Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office immediately cleared Chacon -- who had been on administrative leave -- to return to work.

Chacon, 33, was at the bar for a family party. Pikula's attorney, Alan Mortensen, said Pikula was there for his bachelor party.

The District Attorney's Office said the fight began when someone in Pikula's group made unwelcome advances toward a woman in Chacon's group, and a security guard tried to move Pikula's group to another area of the club.

Pikula resisted, picked up a bottle and charged one of Chacon's acquaintances, according to the report. Security guards tried to remove Pikula from the club, but he broke away.

Chacon saw Pikula run toward his brother, slam him into a wall, and take him to the ground, the report stated. Pikula then punched Chacon's brother several times in the head and face while he lay motionless on the ground.

Fearing his brother would be seriously injured or killed, Chacon fired one shot at Pikula, striking him in the left side. Chacon told investigators that when he fired, Pikula was bending over to punch his brother.

Deputy Salt Lake County District Attorney Alicia Cook said a forensic pathologist at the state Medical Examiner's Office examined Pikula's clothing and medical records and backed that account.

Cook said this was critical because there were contradictory statements about what occurred. She said investigators interviewed 53 people, reviewed footage from 27 security cameras, gathered broken bottles and glasses, swabbed blood stains and obtained toxicology results.

Alan Mortensen, an attorney who represents Pikula, did not immediately return a call for comment. But in a previous interview, Mortensen said that according to his interviews with witnesses, the fight was ending and a friend had pulled Pikula to the side of the dance floor when he was shot. Pikula had been blinded by a bouncer's pepper spray and was not acting aggressively, Mortensen claimed.

Mortensen has also expressed concern that Chacon had been drinking, was out of uniform and did not identify himself as a law enforcement officer.

Chacon -- a 12-year veteran of the Sheriff's Office and decorated narcotics detective who has attracted standing room only crowds to his drug seminars -- could still face sanctions by the state's police board.

Sheriff's Office spokesman Lt. Don Hutson said the shooting is still under administrative review by the sheriff's department, although it has already been determined Chacon did not violate any policies.

Hutson has said deputies are required to carry their weapons or have them "reasonably accessible" at all times. Deputies don't set their guns aside when they drink alcohol, but are not supposed to use them if they are impaired. But that can change if there is an imminent threat and they need to respond, Hutson has said.

shunt@sltrib.com