Salt Lake City pig cleared by DA after killing a black man who was running away...
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYSr9w5Eqnohttp://www.sltrib.com/news/2017/10/04/da-clears-salt-lake-city-police-officer-in-deadly-shooting/
Bodycam footage shows SLC officer fatally shooting fleeing Utah man; D.A. says the killing was justified
Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill has cleared a Salt Lake City police officer who fatally shot a man on Aug. 13, after the man allegedly pulled a knife and threatened to injure officers trying to arrest him.
Patrick Harmon, 50, whose most recent address, according to court records from November 2016, was the Road Home shelter, was shot about 10:20 p.m. at 1002 S. State St.
A patrol officer had approached Harmon after watching the man ride across all six lanes and a median of State Street, and without a rear red tail light, according to the district attorney’s report, which was released Wednesday afternoon.
When asked for identification, according to the report, Harmon gave the officer a name that did not have a match in a police database. Body camera footage released Wednesday shows the officer searching for a name in the police database unsuccessfully.
In the video, the officer again asks Harmon for the spelling of his last name. The district attorney’s report said Harmon gave “a couple of different names.” Body camera footage shows Harmon quietly spelling his name and the officer asking for clarification multiple times.
Before the officer returned to his squad car, Harmon told the officer he may find a warrant related to a felony charge.
The officer called for backup on his radio, and two more officers soon arrived.
The officer did another check in the police database and found that Harmon had arrest warrants, including one for a felony. That warrant was for an aggravated assault, according to the report. Court records show that a $10,000 felony warrant had been issued in April, after Harmon did not show up for the sentencing. In that case, Harmon had pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, a second-degree felony.
Harmon pleaded with the officers to not take him to jail, an officer told investigators, and as police put the man’s hands behind his back to handcuff him, Harmon “bolted and ran.” As the three officers pursued him, the man “turned quickly” back toward them.
The officer who originally contacted Harmon drew his stun gun, and another, Officer Clinton Fox, drew his gun. All three officers reported hearing Harmon threaten to cut them. They saw him reach toward his right pants pocket and that he had something in his hand, the report said.
Fox later told investigators he saw a knife in Harmon’s hand with the blade exposed. He believed another officer was dangerously close to Harmon, he said.
In the footage, Fox shouts, “I‘ll f- shoot you!” before firing three rounds at Harmon. Simultaneously, the other officer fires his stun gun.
Fox felt “terrified by how close Mr. Harmon was to the officers,” he told investigators. “Fox said that in ten years of law enforcement and two military deployments, it was the scariest situation he had ever been in,” according to the report.
Critically injured, Harmon was handcuffed and given first aid at the scene by police, and then was transported to the hospital by ambulance, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.
Body camera footage shows officers administering medical attention and saying, “Patrick, stay with us.“
At the scene, investigators found a knife on the ground, the report says.
The three officers wore body cameras that recorded the confrontation, the report says. The report includes several still frames from that footage, showing Harmon turning toward officers, Fox firing at Harmon and Harmon lying near a knife. There’s also a photo of the knife, taken by investigators.
The district attorney’s ruling comes days after Harmon’s family came to retrieve his body and local groups demanded the release of the police body camera footage at a protest.
Friends and family members did not believe Harmon deserved to die, they said, adding that he was a good man at his core, despite struggles with drugs.
His sister Antoinette Harmon told The Salt Lake Tribune on Wednesday that she had not heard about the report or seen the footage. She declined to comment further.
Fox had been placed on “modified duty,” said Salt Lake City Detective Robert Ungricht, pending the department‘s investigation, which was ongoing Wednesday.
Police Chief Mike Brown issued a statement saying he and the department “trust the process and support the decision” from Gill‘s office. “I believe our officers have the training, judgment and ability to make split-second decisions in dynamic situations,” Brown said.
Comments
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That was murder. He wasn't a threat
This is why they're called race soilders -
Smh at a ? running away from you with a knife being a threat to your life
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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/05/patrick-harmon-utah-police-shootingVideo shows Utah police fatally shooting man from behind as he fled
Police face no charges amid accusations of racial profiling and ‘brutal execution’ in case of Patrick Harmon, 50, who was pulled over for cycling without a light
Police in Utah fatally shot a man from behind while he was running away from officers, according to newly released footage, which has sparked accusations of racial profiling and a “brutal execution”.
Prosecutors in Salt Lake City have said officers were justified in killing Patrick Harmon, 50, who was pulled over for riding a bicycle without a light and who attempted to flee when police tried to arrest him. Police are not facing charges despite the fact that the body-camera footage captured officer Clinton Fox shouting “I’ll ? shoot you!” from a distance before he fired three bullets into Harmon, who was running in the opposite direction.
“They just murdered him flat out,” Alisha Shaw, Harmon’s niece, told the Guardian on Thursday after watching the footage. “They are lying. There is no way they were threatened by anything. He was only trying to get away.”
Civil rights activists said the killing of Harmon was the latest example of police brutality and a prejudiced criminal justice system in the US, where officers ? black men at disproportionately high rates. Data has shown that across the country, black citizens and people of color are stopped by police and targeted for low-level offenses at higher rates than white residents, and some reports have suggested that police stop and cite black cyclists for minor infractions with much greater frequency than others.
Salt Lake officials have claimed that the killing of Harmon was legal because the officers feared for their lives, even though the video, released to local media, revealed that Harmon was not advancing toward them. Another officer said he fired his Taser at the same time that Fox shot Harmon. The footage showed the officers handcuffing Harmon as he laid on the ground face-down, groaning in pain.
The district attorney’s office claimed that Harmon said “I’ll cut you” and turned and faced officers with a knife as he was running. The video, however, raises questions about the narrative. Harmon cannot be heard making that threat and was running away from the officer, not facing him, when he was killed.
“He was scared. All he did was run,” said Adriane Harmon, another niece, who was sobbing after watching the footage for the first time Thursday. “It hurts … They said ‘I’m going to ? you’ and they shot him three times. He’s just moaning on the ground.”
At the start of the video, Harmon appeared tearful and exasperated about police attempting to arrest him. According to prosecutors, officer Kris Smith pulled him over because he saw him “ride his bicycle across all six road lanes and a median” and he didn’t have a “required red rear tail light”. The officer said he wanted to “discuss the situation” with Harmon.
The policeman eventually called for backup and determined that Harmon had an outstanding warrant for aggravated assault, according to prosecutors. Harmon appeared “emotional and distraught” and told police that he was trying to take care of his warrant, Fox testified.
Salt Lake City has previously received national praise for its “de-escalation” training, aimed at encouraging officers to communicate with people and limit confrontation and use of lethal force. The department even gives out “de-escalation awards” to recognize officers who rely on these tactics.
The death of Harmon is another reminder, activists said, that progressive policies do not stop officers from unjustly killing black Americans who do not pose a threat.
“That officer disregarded his de-escalation training,” said Lex Scott, a local Black Lives Matter organizer. “It’s just brutal. How could anyone with eyes and ears believe that that officer was justified?”
Police declined to answer questions about the case, but the chief, Mike Brown, said in a statement: “We trust the process and support the decision from district attorney Sim Gill. I believe our officers have the training and judgement and ability to make split-second decisions in dynamic situations.”
Gill added in a statement: “Officer Fox reasonably believed deadly force was necessary to prevent death or serious ? injury to himself and/or others and therefore his use of deadly force was ‘justified’.”
Antoinette Harmon, a 54-year-old sister, said the family grew up in St Louis, Missouri, but later moved to Utah, where they often experienced racism and prejudice. The family hadn’t seen Patrick Harmon for several years since a funeral for one of hits brothers – a death that hit him hard, said Antoinette. She said her brother may have been struggling with mental illness, and the family believes he may have been homeless at one point.
“The police are going to stick together no matter if it’s wrong or right,” she added. “They don’t care about black lives.”
Police are rarely charged and almost never convicted for use of force in the US, where the law generally allows officers to use lethal force if they claim that they perceived a threat.
“He was just being profiled,” said Shaw. “Why do we have to fight so hard for justice? All we want is to be treated equal as a black person instead of being profiled and looked at as if we were a threat.”
Antionette said her brother was “goofy and fun to be around” and helped her raise her children. “He did everything he could. He was like a protector. He made sure that nobody hurt us.”
