In a rare move, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill charged a police officer with manslaughter for fatally shooting an unarmed man in October 2024.

It is the first time Gill has charged an officer in a fatal shooting in more than a decade.

Taylorsville police officer Jimmy Jeremy Haas was charged with the second-degree felony count Thursday. He faces a potential penalty of up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Haas fatally shot Henry Chavez Jr. on Oct. 9, 2024, as police were trying to track down Chavez because they suspected he was driving a truck with a license plate that didn’t match the vehicle. He had fled Salt Lake City police earlier that day.

A Taylorsville officer had followed Chavez from a distance, according to a probable cause statement, and asked for help from a Department of Public Safety helicopter. Chavez eventually pulled into a parking lot in Salt Lake County near 3900 South and 300 West, according to the document. Haas then pulled in behind him in an unmarked police SUV and got out of his car.

Chavez’s girlfriend then exited the truck, Gill said during a Thursday news conference, before Chavez reversed it and started to ram Haas’s car.

The girlfriend later told investigators that she told Chavez to get out, too, but he told her, “F--- you, I’m not trying to go to jail.”

Gill said body camera footage — which was not played during Thursday’s news conference — showed Haas yelling “Let me see your hands!” multiple times, as well as yelling at Chavez’s girlfriend to move as Chavez continued to ram the unoccupied police SUV three more times.

By that time, Haas had stepped behind a nearby parked car, Gill said, as another detective arrived and pinned the truck up against a building.

Then, Haas moved closer to the truck and began shining a light through its tinted windows, Gill said, citing body camera footage. As Chavez was “moving across the cab toward the passenger side” of the truck, Gill said, Haas shot once into the rear window of the truck.

Chavez was struck in the lower right side of his chest, and then he ran from the truck.

The probable cause statement says a bystander recorded video of the shooting and the moment after, when Chavez ran toward her and cried out, “¡Me mataron!” — they killed me.

Chavez then ran into an open garage and hid inside a vehicle that was on a lift, according to the probable cause statement. Officers searching for him sent in a police dog, the document states, but Chavez never came out. More than 16 minutes after the shooting, officers pulled Chavez from the car and started resuscitation efforts.

Investigators later determined that Chavez did not have a gun with him or in the truck.

A law enforcement expert hired by the district attorney’s office concluded that Haas did not follow Taylorsville police policies and used a level of force that was “not reasonable” and “unnecessary.”

Defense attorney Blake Hamilton said in a statement Thursday evening that they are confident evidence will show Haas “acted lawfully in defense of himself and others during a violent and rapidly unfolding encounter.”

“We recognize the loss of life in this case and address it with seriousness and respect,” the statement reads. He added that a charge isn’t a conviction and Haas is presumed innocent at this stage.

The allegations will be addressed in court, Hamilton said, where evidence “can be considered in full and in context.”

Haas’ initial court appearance is scheduled for June 12.

When reached Thursday, Taylorsville city officials said it could not comment on the charge beyond saying: “We have confidence in the system, and we believe every person is innocent until they are proven guilty at trial.”

“We also have a long-standing practice of not publicly commenting on personnel matters, human resource issues, or the substance or status of criminal investigations and charging decisions,” the statement continued.

Haas’ second police shooting

This is the second time that Haas has fired his weapon on the job.

In 2015, while he was working for Murray police, Haas responded to calls of a suspicious person in a neighborhood.

He confronted Joby James Romano as the man was leaving a park restroom. Romano stood in the bathroom doorway, according to the district attorney’s office, and “just stared” at Haas, who had asked Romano to come to him so he could question him.

Then, Romano lifted the front of his shirt and exposed a pellet gun. Romano pulled it from his waistband and pointed it at the officer, who tried to fire his own weapon but it malfunctioned.

Romano then ran away, according to the district attorney’s office, but again pointed the pellet gun at Haas. Haas fired, and Romano was struck in the face and injured.

Gill ruled Haas was legally justified in this shooting.

Controversial charging decision

The last time that Gill — or any prosecutor in Utah — charged an officer with manslaughter was after the 2012 shooting of Danielle Willard.

Police heavily criticized Gill at that time for filing a manslaughter charge in 2014 against West Valley City officer Shaun Cowley, who fatally shot the 21-year-old woman as she backed her Subaru out of a parking stall. Cowley said he fired because he feared for his life — but Gill alleged he was never in danger.

But the prosecution stumbled early in the case, when a judge ruled they had not shown any evidence that Cowley’s actions were not legally justified under Utah’s use-of-force laws.

The judge dismissed the case at the preliminary hearing, a particularly unusual move because the burden of proof at that hearing is so low compared to a trial, where a jury must find a person is guilty “beyond a reasonable doubt.”