SALT LAKE CITY — The family of Darrien Hunt officially filed a $2 million civil rights lawsuit against two Saratoga Springs police officers and the city Friday.

"We're trying to prove that someone used excessive force, unlawful deadly force, and took Darrien's life. And I think that's what this complaint shows — evidence that unlawful force was used. There was no need to use deadly force under any scenario," said Robert Sykes, attorney for Hunt's mother and aunt.

The law firm of Snow, Christensen and Martineau, which represents both officers and Saratoga Springs in defense of the lawsuit, issued a statement late Friday disputing many of the Hunt family's claims.

"The complaint filed by the Hunt family mischaracterizes the important facts that support this finding and omits statements by civilian witnesses that support what occurred," the statement said.

The highly publicized confrontation between Hunt, 22, and Saratoga Springs Police Cpl. Matt Schauerhamer and officer Nicholas Judson happened on Sept. 10 near Crossroads Boulevard and Redwood Road.

Hunt, dressed as a character in a Japanese anime series, according to the lawsuit, was carrying a 3-foot souvenir katana sword when approached by the two officers.

Cindy Moss, Hunt's aunt, said Friday that Schauerhamer had previous dealings with her nephew.

"He already had beliefs about Darrien, mostly inaccurate," Moss said.

Schauerhamer was not originally dispatched to check on Hunt that day, according to Sykes. Whether Schauerhamer responded because he believed it was Hunt based on the description put out by dispatcher or simply because he was in the area, Moss said she doesn't know.

After a seemingly peaceful initial contact with Hunt, over the next 37 seconds the officers fired three shots and then chased Hunt across a parking lot and shot him three more times, all from behind. Hunt died outside a Panda Express restaurant.

The Utah County Attorney's Office determined the shooting was legally justified, noting that the officers reasonably believed Hunt, who was still carrying the sword while running away, could have potentially killed or seriously injured nearby store patrons.

"He had just attacked the officers with the sword, and then (took) off with that sword — he didn't drop it," Utah County attorney Heather White said. "(Police) had every reasonable belief that he was going to do harm to others."

Hunt's family does not believe he swung his sword at either officer. Moss noted that both officers said in their reports that they thought Hunt swung his sword at the other person.

"If I were being swung at, I would say, 'Darrien swung at me,'" she said.

In the prepared statement Friday, the officers' attorneys reiterated that "while they were talking, Hunt suddenly and violently unsheathed the sword and swung it at the officers. The officers jumped back, according to a civilian witness. She said if they had not, one of the officers would have been struck in the stomach. To defend themselves, both of the officers shot at Hunt."

Sykes contends there was only one witness out of many who said they saw Hunt swing his sword at the officers.

Surveillance cameras from nearby businesses caught parts of the foot chase between officers and Hunt.

"It does not look like Darrien even has (the sword) unsheathed while he is running," Moss noted.

But even if Hunt had swung his sword at officers, "that didn't justify deadly force 37 seconds later when Darrien is down or going down. He's been shot a bunch of times. There's no need to finish him off on the ground, and that's apparently what happened," Sykes said.

Hunt can be seen in the video trying to hold his pants up as he's running, according to Sykes. Outside the Panda Express, his pants finally fall down, causing him to trip and fall to the ground.

"You can see (Schauerhamer) raising his gun and point it at the ground, and that's when the final shots were fired that killed him," Moss said.

Sykes said the fact there were bullet holes in Hunt's underwear but not his jeans was further evidence that he was already on the ground, or was in the process of falling, when the fatal shot was fired.

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"He undoubtedly knew that the officers were trying to kill him, which caused him to experience fear and terror in the last, final moments of his young life."

Attorneys for the officers disagree.

"Contrary to (the Hunt family's) allegations, Hunt was not shot because he was running from the officers, nor was he shot while on the ground. In truth, had Hunt dropped the sword before fleeing, the officers would have continued chasing him on foot."

One of the other questions raised in the lawsuit is why Judson's body camera was turned off, why Schauerhamer's lapel microphone wasn't working, and why his patrol car dash camera was also apparently off or not working — all at the same time.

"How do you account for the fact the dash-cam in Schauerhamer's car didn't work, his lapel mic didn't work or wasn't turned on, and Judson's body-cam wasn't turned on? Schauerhamer gets a call about this kid walking with a sword and he doesn't turn on his mic or his dash-cam? It's just hard to believe. It's hard to believe, No. 1, that someone could be so incompetent. A darker explanation … is there might have been evidence on there at some point. We're going to find out," Sykes said.

Once individuals are served, Sykes said the next step will be to depose both officers under oath.

"This man needs to be called to account. That's what this lawsuit will do. This lawsuit will help us get justice for Darrien Hunt," he said.

Since the shooting, Hunt's family claims they have been harassed by Saratoga Springs police and have received threatening messages via social media from friends of officers.

"It's affecting the whole family traumatically, because not only are we facing that we've lost somebody that we loved, but how it happened and having to go through these things and having to defend ourselves against the things that have been inaccurately put out there by the police. I can't even explain how traumatic that is when you're already facing the loss of someone you love and you realize they're trying to cover it up," Moss said.

"It's just not right, and it's not fair and it's not just in any way, shape or form," Susan Hunt, Darrien Hunt's mother, said Friday while becoming emotional. "He didn't do anything wrong."

Contributing: Andrew Adams

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