A Sandy police officer opened fire on a 16-year-old driver eight times Nov. 9 as the boy veered a stolen van toward the officer, body camera footage of the fatal encounter released Tuesday shows.
The officer was not hurt, but the teen later died at a hospital, police said.
Authorities initially responded to the stolen car call early Nov. 9, according to Sandy police. The van was taken from a U.S. Army recruiting station, located at 814 E. 9400 South in Sandy, and the caller was an employee at the recruiting station, who spoke with police as he followed the stolen van in a separate vehicle.
South Jordan police attempted to stop the stolen van near 12600 South and Bangerter Highway, but the van took off, and officers didn’t pursue it, Sandy police said. A person later called police to report that the van’s driver was asking residents for gas in a Sandy neighborhood.
Sandy officers responded and found the van in the area, then continued to follow the vehicle, according to the body camera footage. Police soon attempted to stop the van on 9400 South with tire-deflation spikes, but it didn’t work, the footage shows.
The driver continued westbound on 9400 South, eventually turning onto Monroe Street headed north, before encountering another officer, according to the footage.
The officer ordered the driver to get out of the van while pointing his firearm at the vehicle, the footage shows. The driver then hooked a U-turn to drive away, heading southbound on the wrong side of the road, according to the footage.
The teen driver hit and severely injured a motorcyclist as he continued down the wrong side of the road, police said. He kept driving south until he entered a business complex, turned around, and then circled back toward the motorcycle crash site, the footage shows.
An officer near the crash site who spotted the van then got out of his patrol car and yelled at the driver “get on the ground,” aiming his firearm at the vehicle before the van veered toward the officer, the footage shows. The officer then fired eight shots at the driver.
Another officer then blocked the van’s path, the footage shows, and the van came to a stop. Smoke could be seen coming out from under the stolen van’s hood.
Two officers soon stood outside of the van, pointing their guns at the teen through the driver’s side window, which had been shattered by the first officer’s gunfire, the footage shows. The officers yelled at the driver not to move, and to put his hands up.
Police then opened the driver’s side door, pulled the teen out of the car and handcuffed him while he lay facedown on the street, the footage shows.
The boy can be heard grunting as he’s put into handcuffs, and seems to say “I’m sorry,” in the footage. He later died at a local hospital, officials said. It’s unclear how many times he was struck by police gunfire.
According to a database maintained by The Salt Lake Tribune, this marked was the 23rd police shooting in Utah this year. An “officer-involved critical incident protocol” team continues to investigate.