The Salt Lake City Police Department released body camera footage of officers on Tuesday. November 8, shoots and seriously injures a man After the mental health outreach team asked police for backup.
According to the footage, the 37-year-old man who was injured in the shooting appeared to be living in the remote garage of the Sugar House home near 1700 South and 900 East where the shooting took place.
The Huntsman Institute of Mental Health Mobile Crisis Outreach Team responded to the home before officers arrived at the garage. Shortly after, for unknown reasons, the crisis response team called for officers’ assistance, police said.
Two police officers answered. When they arrived at the garage around 11:40 a.m., members of the crisis management team found one of them, the man’s recent drug use, and previous interactions with police, according to Tuesday’s news release from Salt Lake. , talked about safety concerns for the team. police.
Inside the garage were two Salt Lake police officers, two emergency team members, and a family member. in the first videothe faces of everyone except the policeman and the 37-year-old man are blurred.
Sitting on a bed in the corner of a cluttered space, a man spent about eight minutes talking to a mental health professional. The conversation is silenced on video.
Audio begins at approximately 7 minutes and 52 seconds into the video, where two individuals can be heard telling a man how to vote and how his family loves him. However, after about 33 seconds, a popping sound was heard as the man jerked towards the edge of the bed.
At that time, footage shows that two police officers suddenly opened fire, and one officer shot into the bed about 15 times. Both officers fired multiple times and hit the man, according to a police news release.
After the shooting, two police officers repeatedly yelled at the man to put his hands on the bed, to which the man replied, “Dead, dead, dead” and “I can’t move.”
As the man moaned and called for help, one of the officers said, “Did you see the gun?”
Another responds, “I haven’t seen a gun.”
“Show me your hands, put your hands on the bed,” said one policeman, to which the man again replied, “I can’t move.”
At about 11 minutes into the video, the officer drags the man out of his bedroom. They quickly search and handcuff him while continuing to search for the gun. Blood can be seen on the man’s upper back.
in the second video, after the shooting, a policeman is heard asking a man where his gun is. The man replies, “It’s not a gun.”
However, at about 11 minutes and 16 seconds into the video, one of the officers found what appeared to be a firearm under the man’s bed. It is unclear whether any apparent weapons were fired.
Police said the man was hospitalized in a local hospital and is believed to have saved his life.
Police Chief Mike Brown said in a statement Tuesday: “This incident reflects how the situation can become dangerous without warning.” Working with health professionals and mental health service providers in our community is essential to more fully addressing the needs of Salt Lake City, and I am proud of the work we do.”
“We look forward to the conclusions of an external, independent investigation into this matter,” Brown said in a statement.
Criminal charges are pending, but it’s unclear what charges the man could face, police said.
According to the Huntsman Mental Health Institute, when the Utah Crisis Line receives a call and a potential mobile outreach team is deployed, a “thorough” risk assessment is performed on the call to determine whether it is safe for the team. be judged. Respond, Rachel Lusinski, director of the Institute’s Community Crisis Service, previously said.
“It’s unusual for law enforcement assistance and backup to be called for, but it happens,” Rusinski told the Salt Lake Tribune. It did not provide further details on the nature of the crisis line call.
It was the 16th police shooting in Utah so far this year, according to a database maintained by the Salt Lake Tribune.
