‘Drop it or I will shoot you’: Dramatic police bodycam video released

SALT LAKE CITY — “I’m hit, I’m hit. I’m hit on my leg,” Salt Lake police officer Chad Miller can be heard telling his colleagues while remaining amazingly calm.

On Tuesday, police officials released several body camera videos from the officer-involved shooting on Feb. 10, including Miller’s video.

The man accused of shooting the officer, Michael Tyson Nance, 30, of Salt Lake City, also killed his live-in girlfriend before shooting himself, causing a traumatic injury that he survived, according to prosecutors.

Nance is charged in 3rd District Court with aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder and aggravated kidnaping, all first-degree felonies, in addition to aggravated assault, a third-degree felony.

About 3:40 a.m. on Feb. 10, Natalie Thurber, 34, of Salt Lake City, called 911 and left the line open. Based on a cellphone tower ping, officers went to the area of 125 S. 300 East to figure out what was happening, said Salt Lake Police Capt. Richard Lewis.

When officers arrived in the area, they could hear screaming coming from an apartment. Charging documents say an officer kicked in a window and discovered Nance was choking Thurber.

“Police! Drop it or I will shoot you right now. Let me see your hands!” the officer can be heard yelling on Miller’s body camera video.

Nance replied, “Hold on, hold on,” before moving away from Thurber, according to charging documents.

As the officer turned to speak into his police radio, his body camera recorded Nance’s hand coming into view “holding a handgun from around the bathroom door frame,” the charges state. “The handgun is turned toward Natalie’s head and (Nance) fires the gun.”

That officer’s body camera video has been determined to be critical evidence in the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office case against Nance and thus was not released on Tuesday. According to a letter from District Attorney Sim Gill to Salt Lake City’s deputy city attorney, releasing the video now may interfere with the ongoing investigation and legal proceedings.

Shortly after Thurber is killed, shots are fired at officers in the video, and Miller is hit in the leg.

In another bodycam video by a backing police K-9 officer who arrived on scene shortly after Miller was shot, officers can be seen dragging Miller to safety. About a dozen shots are then fired by at least two officers into the apartment window.

Nance ran out the back door but was spotted a short time later bleeding heavily from his face near 200 South and 500 East. It was determined that Nance shot himself, with the bullet entering through his chin and exiting through the bridge of his nose, according to police.

Both the officer-involved shooting and the homicide are being investigated by Unified police. Nance was recently released from the hospital and was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail. Nance’s next court hearing is scheduled for March 9.

Miller was released from the hospital but will have a “long road” to recovery, according to police.

Salt Lake police on Tuesday encouraged people who are the victims of domestic violence or people who know someone who is a victim to contact them or an advocate.

“Preventing a person from leaving the home, taking their phone, and threatening to harm themselves or others if a person leaves or ends the relationship are all very serious forms of domestic violence,” police spokeswoman Christi Judd said.

In 2018, there were 15 domestic violence-related deaths in Utah, according to police.

Those who experience domestic violence can call police dispatch at 801-799-3000; the 24-hour victim advocate hotline at 801-580-7969; the National Domestic Violence Hotline, 800-799-7233; or the Utah LINKLine at 800-897-5465.

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