West Jordan officer legally justified in fatal shooting, district attorney says

Jose Martinez | West Jordan Police Department

SALT LAKE CITY — A West Jordan police officer who shot and killed a wanted fugitive who advanced on officers with a half pair of scissors in each hand was legally justified in using deadly force, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said Wednesday.

Gill announced that officer Charlie Sandness reasonably believed his use of deadly force against Jose Martinez, 34, of California, was necessary to prevent death or serious injury.

The incident occurred on July 5 when a task force under the direction of the FBI went looking for Martinez, who was wanted in California in an aggravated kidnapping investigation, according to Gill’s final report on the officer-involved shooting. The task force thought it had Martinez cornered in one location, but he managed to escape, Gill said.

He fled to a relative’s condominium near 6900 South and 3800 West. A West Jordan police SWAT team was then called to help arrest Martinez, who had barricaded himself on the second floor of the condominium.

“Officers tried to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the situation, but Mr. Martinez told officers he would not surrender and told them he was going to die in the ensuing conflict,” according to Gill’s report.

The task force from the first incident informed the SWAT team that Martinez had claimed he was armed with a gun and that he did not want to go back to prison.

“Mr. Martinez told SWAT team members his family would see him at his grave,” the report states.

In body camera video from the SWAT team, officers are seen positioning themselves at the bottom of a staircase shortly after shooting tear gas onto the second floor and can be heard encouraging Martinez to surrender.

“Jose, come out with your hands (up),” an officer yells several times.

“No,” Martinez is heard yelling back at officers through a closed door.

“C’mon, come out with your hands.”

SWAT officers continue to talk to Martinez who refuses to come out. Gill noted that at no time during the conversation did Martinez tell the officers he did not have a gun.

The officers eventually fired a flash-bang grenade toward the door, causing a small explosion and bright flash. Sandness then positions himself on the landing of the staircase, just a few feet away from the room Martinez is in.

Martinez exits the room and nonlethal “sting-balls” are shot at him in the video, but Martinez does not surrender. He has one hand wrapped in a towel, which Gill said is a common tactic that prison inmates use to hide the weapons they’re holding during a fight.

As Martinez continued to disobey commands to stop and move toward the officer, nine shots were fired by Sandness.

“Mr. Martinez fell to the ground, rolled over, and pointed his arm at officer Sandness, whereupon officer Sandness fired more rounds at Mr. Martinez,” the report states.

Sandness told investigators after the shooting that “he believed Mr. Martinez had not given up the fight, so he fired more rounds at Mr. Martinez to stop the threat.”

In the body camera video, seven more shots can be heard.

“Officer Sandness said he was angry at Mr. Martinez for making officer Sandness shoot him,” the report states.

The SWAT team found Martinez was still holding a half pair of scissors in the hand wrapped with a towel, and the other half was near his other hand where he fell.

When Gill played the body camera video in slow motion, the scissors can easily be seen as Martinez walks out the door. But even though Sandness likely did not see the scissors as the confrontation unfolded in real time, Gill said he was justified in using deadly force based on the totality of the evidence.

“When (Martinez) comes around that corner charging at them, because he’s also told them that he’s not going to be taken into custody, that he’s going to have people visit him at his grave, (the cops) are saying, ‘Listen, talk to your baby mama,’ they're trying to deescalate. But when he comes at them, I have to focus on what was officer Sandness’ perception at that moment,” Gill said.

That perception was that Martinez was armed — possibly with a gun — and stated he was not going back to prison, refused multiple commands to surrender and was moving toward the officer.

Gill also noted in his final report there was a “breakdown in communication” between the FBI lead task force that initially thought they had Martinez cornered and West Jordan police. He said West Jordan was never notified that a task force was in their jurisdiction looking for Martinez until after he escaped the first confrontation.

“It is good protocol and practice to inform the local agency if you’re executing for a high-value target on a retrieval. And there was a gap that occurred there. Because West Jordan might have been in a position to assist them. Maybe they could have secured the individual in the first (location),” he said.

from Deseret News https://ift.tt/2UxZIE1