New details revealed in case surrounding death of WVC officer


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WEST VALLEY CITY — Prosecutors filed some kind of charges in juvenile court Monday against three young teens accused of hitting and killing West Valley police officer Cody Brotherson more than four weeks ago.

The Salt Lake County District Attorney's office refused to say Monday what charges it filed against the three boys — ages 14, 15 and 15 — and filed a motion to have the court documents sealed. A judge agreed to do so, keeping the normally-public documents secret.

Police and prosecutors have remained tight-lipped about the three young teens, the circumstances that led to Brotherson's death and the progress of the investigation. But a search warrant unsealed in 3rd District Court Monday indicates that detectives have been trying to determine which of the boys — all ninth-grade students — was driving the vehicle that struck and killed Brotherson.

About 3:15 a.m. on Nov. 6, a West Valley police officer in an unmarked patrol car spotted a silver BMW with a Florida license plate in the middle of the intersection of 4100 South and Redwood Road. The vehicle appeared to be disabled.

When the officer approached and turned on his hazard lights, he saw six people walk away from the car and into the nearby Boulder Pines apartment complex, 4040 S. 1535 West. The officer followed and "observed several teenage juveniles near a Honda Accord," the search warrant affidavit states. The Accord's headlights came on and it drove out of the complex. The officer followed.

Another officer who had arrived at the disabled BMW was notified that the Accord was headed his way. The officer "was able to deploy spikes as the car passed him going west" on 4100 South, the affidavit states.

The officer in the unmarked car activated his emergency lights and a second officer in a marked West Valley police patrol car also joined the pursuit.

As they approached the intersection of 4100 South and 2200 West, the officer in the unmarked car could see Brotherson, 25, attempting to deploy tire spikes.

"He observed the Honda Accord swerve toward the officer and strike him with the vehicle," the warrant states.

The officer stopped chasing the teens to check on Brotherson, who "was down and appeared to be deceased from the impact," according to the affidavit.

About 200 to 300 feet later, the Accord struck a fire hydrant and continued down an embankment. When officers arrived, the occupants of the crashed vehicle were gone.

With assistance from the Utah Department of Public Safety helicopter, one teen was arrested at a house near 2250 West and 4100 South and the other two at a house across the street.

Two of the boys arrested are brothers. KSL has opted not to name the boys at this time.

When police attempted to interview the suspects, two of them initially gave detectives false stories and the third refused to talk, the warrant states. Two of the boys initially claimed that a fourth person had given them a ride home in the Accord and that they had all been in the back seat, the warrant states.

The 14-year-old brother "eventually changed his story. He indicated the three had gotten into the Honda Accord and used a spoon to start the car," police wrote. That boy claimed that their 15-year-old friend was the driver.

"(He) confirmed they fled from the police and the car was spiked during the pursuit. (He) said he told (the friend) to stop but he would not. (He) said he thought they hit a wall, not the officer," the warrant states.

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That 15-year-old friend, after initially claiming that a fourth person was the driver, "eventually admitted that this story was false" but declined to say who was driving, the affidavit states.

The other brother, who had turned 15 a little more than 24 hours earlier, "invoked his right to counsel and refused to speak with investigators."

The search warrant was served to take photographs of each of the boys over a 10-day period to monitor the types of bruises that could occur.

Investigators hoped "to use any injury/bruising information to aid in determining the position (seating) of each individual. Your affiant will use the information in an effort to include or exclude these individuals as the driver of the vehicle at the time of the collision with officer Brotherson," the officer wrote in the warrant.

The Unified Police Department is leading a multiagency task force conducting the investigation into Brotherson's death.

The 14-year-old brother has been referred to juvenile court five times for a total of two felony and five misdemeanor offenses, including aggravated assault on Oct. 25, according to juvenile court records. In another incident, he was charged with receiving more than $5,000 worth of stolen property, possession of burglary tools and possession of a dangerous weapon by a minor.

He allegedly committed the crime on Nov. 4, two days before Brotherson was hit, the charges state.

The 15-year-old brother has been referred to juvenile court two times on two felony and two misdemeanor charges. He is also accused of an incident on Nov. 4 — his birthday — in which he was charged with receiving more than $5,000 in stolen property and aggravated assault, according to court records.

The 15-year-old friend has been referred to juvenile court just one time previously, according to state court records. He was charged with fighting and assault after a January incident that was investigated by Granite School District police officers.

All three boys are in ninth grade in the Granite School District, district spokesman Ben Horsley confirmed on Monday. The brothers are enrolled at Eisenhower Junior High and the other boy at Granger High School.

Horsley declined to say whether any of the boys had ever had disciplinary action taken against them by the schools, citing privacy laws.

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Pat Reavy

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