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MAGNA — A Unified police officer who shot and killed a suicidal man who charged at him with a knife was justified in using deadly force against him, the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office determined.
On Oct. 25, Unified police were originally called to the area of 3688 S. Deer Valley Drive (8445 West) on a report that Luis Quintana, 39, of Magna, was attempting suicide with a knife. When officers eventually found Quintana, he was in the street "covered in blood, cutting himself with a knife," according to the district attorney's report released Friday.
Officer Martin Berdaguer ordered Quintana to "just drop the knife,” the report states. Instead, Quintana started walking away. Quintana then turned and took a "fighting stance."
Berdaguer again ordered him to "stop, drop the knife." The officer described Quintana's demeanor as "crazy." The officer then watched as Quintana "made three cuts to his own throat," the report states.
Quintana followed that action by running "full speed directly" at the officer "with the knife still in his hands."
"Officer Berdaguer said he fired his weapon at Quintana and saw the first round hit Quintana in the chest. That shot did not stop Quintana, who continued to run at officer Berdaguer. Officer Berdaguer said he believed he fired four to five rounds at Quintana," the report states. "In a subsequent interview, officer Berdaguer said that, although he was armed with a Taser, he elected not to use his Taser because he recognized Quintana’s knife was a deadly weapon and officer Berdaguer did not have a backup officer present. Officer Berdaguer said he believed it was unwise to rely on the Taser without a backup officer in case the Taser failed or proved to be ineffective."
A neighbor said she heard the officer "trying to calm Quintana down and heard Berdaguer say, 'Drop the knife. You don’t want to do this,'" according to the report. The neighbor also told investigators that Quintana "was about 6 to 10 feet away from Berdaguer when he fired the shots.
Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill concluded: "Given the totality of the circumstances they faced, officer Berdaguer reasonably believed his life was in danger when Quintana charged him with a knife."
Gill said the officer was not wearing a body camera nor was there any dash-cam video from a patrol car.
Utah state court records show that Quintana had a long history of violence and substance abuse.
