Police shooting in SLC foot chase ruled justified


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

SALT LAKE CITY — A Salt Lake City police officer was legally justified when he shot a man during a foot chase, the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office announced Friday.

Salt Lake City police officers Philip Cardon and Benjamin Wright responded to a report of trespassing at 1376 Jefferson St. in Salt Lake City on Oct. 1, 2016, around 4:30 p.m. When they arrived, a man who matched the description of the reported trespasser began walking away from them.

The man, later identified as Jason Garcia, refused to comply with Cardon's orders, commenting that he didn't want to go back to prison and began running away, according to the district attorney's office.

Cardon and Wright began pursuing Garcia and ran through a Utah Transit Authority TRAX parking lot at 1300 South. Garcia then pulled a black object out of his pocket and pointed it at officer Cardon.

Cardon and Wright took cover behind vehicles and Wright shouted at Garcia that they didn't want to hurt him. Garcia shouted back, saying, "I'm not going back to prison! Just shoot me!"

Garcia then began to run away toward 1300 South and continued to point what the officers believed was a gun at police, according to a statement from the district attorney's office.

Cardon discharged his weapon and fired one round at Garcia, who fell down. The bullet ripped through Garcia's clothing but did not hit him.

Garcia had recently been released after serving more than 15 years after killing his then ex-girlfriend, Monica Vigil, in 1993. Court documents indicate that Garcia later escaped from custody in 1998 and was sent back to prison.

Garcia was arrested and charged with two second-degree felony counts of assault against a police officer and failure to stop at the command of law enforcement, a class A misdemeanor. A preliminary trial for those charges was delayed because of the ongoing investigation by the district attorney's office, but it is scheduled in 3rd District Court on March 30.

The district attorney's office determined that Garcia's refusal to comply with orders and the officers' belief that they were in danger justified the officer's use of deadly force.

Contributor: Wendy Leonards

Most recent Utah stories

Related topics

Utah
Liesl Nielsen

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast