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SALT LAKE CITY — Two Salt Lake police officers injured during a deadly officer-involved shooting Thursday have been released from the hospital, police said Friday.
Chief Mike Brown announced that the officers were sent home from the hospital Thursday night to continue recovering with their families. One officer suffered a broken nose, a broken ankle and a cut that required stitches. The other suffered a large bruise on his arm. Neither of the officers' names have been released.
Their injuries came while confronting a career criminal who had already spent more than 10 years at the Utah State Prison.
Michael Bruce Peterson, 39, who was last known to have lived in Utah County, was acting "erratic" and "very different" when officers confronted him and he allegedly grabbed an officer's baton and used it to attack the officer, according to witnesses.
The series of events began when Peterson assaulted a woman in a salon, Brown said.
Peterson entered the salon near 500 East and 300 South about 3:45 p.m. He grabbed a female employee's buttocks with both hands, the chief said, and then took away the cellphone of another employee trying to call 911. Peterson was in the salon for about 15 minutes.
He then left and walked to the nearby Walgreens, 531 E. 400 South, where an officer confronted Peterson in the parking lot. The ensuing confrontation and eventual struggle spilled over into the parking lot of a Maverik gas station, 508 E. 300 South, where the shooting occurred.
Witnesses say Peterson was able to grab an officer's baton and use it against the officer.
"We don’t know all the details right now," Brown said Friday.
All he knows is there was a "very dynamic, violent, intense encounter" in which officers ended up using their batons, a Taser and ultimately a gun.
"All levels of use of force" were used, he said.
One officer has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation into the shooting. A second officer is on medical leave, Brown said. He described one officer as being new to the force, and the other as being tenured and having "a lot of experience."
Brown said he spent two to three hours with the officers and their families at the hospital before they were released.
"We stand behind them. They are great officers. Our hearts ands prayers go out to them as they heal," he said.
The West Valley City Police Department will conduct an independent investigation into the shooting. Brown said both body camera and surveillance videos are available as part of the investigation.
The chief said he did not know much about Peterson or why he chose the salon he went into. He said Salt Lake police have not had much prior interaction with the man.
But a check of court records shows Peterson spent a lot of time in the Utah State Prison, mainly for a conviction of attempted murder more than 20 years ago.
He was convicted of attempted murder and tampering with a witness in Utah County in July of 1997. He first arrived at the prison in September 1997. Peterson was also convicted of drug distribution in August 1997 in another case, according to court records.
In 2007, Peterson was first paroled, but he had several violations and was sent back to prison for various lengths of times over the years. In 2008, Peterson was convicted of felony drug possession and sentenced to up to five years at the Utah State Prison. In 2010 he was found guilty of failing to stop at the command of an officer and sentenced to another term of up to five years in prison. Since then, he has had several misdemeanor shoplifting convictions in Utah, according to court records.
In 2014, the district attorney's office in Ventura, California, sent a letter to Utah requesting court documents from Peterson's attempted murder case. The letter said criminal action was pending against Peterson in their jurisdiction.
Most recently, Peterson served prison time for a parole violation from March 2017 to August 2017. He was paroled to the Fortitude Treatment Center in August.
