Four Cedar City officers have been cleared for shooting a man on Valentine’s Day, with the lead prosecutor who reviewed their conduct saying, “I don’t know, honestly, what else they could have done.”
The officers shot Larry Joseph Lee Tessier, 36, after he drove his car at them, according to charging documents. Body camera footage shows Tessier revved his engine and rammed into a police vehicle near where multiple officers were standing.
Cpl. Zac Adams and officers Orlas DeMasters, Heather Daynes and Tyrell Crofts opened fire “almost simultaneously” as Tessier accelerated, Police Chief Darin Adams said at the Friday news conference, recorded by FOX 13.
Video shows Tessier’s vehicle was in a ditch and positioned toward officers when he drove forward and officers started shooting. Tessier rammed a police vehicle and surrendered. He yelled in pain as officers removed him from his truck.
Tessier survived the shooting and has since been charged with multiple felony counts of criminal mischief and aggravated assault, as well as a single count of failure to stop for a police officer.
Iron County Attorney Chad Dotson, who would normally investigate a Cedar City police shooting, turned the review over to Barry Huntington, the Garfield County attorney, because he is related to one of the officers involved in the shooting, Doston said Friday.
Huntington said his review of the evidence found officers acted appropriately and that “the only way to stop this individual was with their firearms.”
All four shooting officers were cleared to return to work, he said.
Cedar City police were looking for Tessier on Valentine’s Day after he allegedly attacked a man who’d just gotten home with a date, charging documents say. Adams, on Friday, declined to give a motive for the assault.
The documents allege that when the man pulled into his driveway and got out of the car, Tessier walked up and punched him. The two men fell down during the fight, and witnesses allege Tessier pulled out a small pocket knife and tried to stab the man.
Neighbors and the man’s date tried to stop Tessier, the documents allege. They eventually pinned Tessier’s knife-wielding hand to the ground and the man escaped.
Tessier drove away, but was spotted soon after by two Cedar City officers. He led them and other law enforcement on a “reckless” chase, as Adams described it, which ended with the shooting at the 2400 North block of 400 West.
Dash camera footage shows Tessier drove into police vehicles, over sidewalks and through fields trying to get away.
Tessier is being held in jail without the option of bail, Iron County Attorney Chad Dotson said Friday.
This was the fourth police shooting in Utah this year, according to a Salt Lake Tribune database. Since then, police here have shot three more people, Keith Taylor on Feb. 25, Robert Sterling Clark on March 16 and Augustus James Cole on March 17.
Editor’s note: The Salt Lake Tribune and FOX 13 are content-sharing partners.
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