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KEARNS — A Unified police officer shot a wanted man Wednesday during a foot chase, seriously injuring him, though no weapon was recovered at the scene and no details were released about what prompted the shooting.
The shooting occurred around 3:15 p.m. near 6100 South and Trowbridge Way (5800 West). A man was hospitalized in serious but not life-threatening condition after being shot in the right arm by a police officer, said Salt Lake County Sheriff Jim Winder.
The ordeal began when two police officers pulled over a Honda CR-V for a traffic stop, Winder said. Officers believed the man, who had a felony warrant for his arrest, was an occupant in the vehicle.
When they identified him as one of the passengers and began to arrest him, his wife, who was also a passenger in the CR-V, got out of the vehicle and allegedly started attacking one of the officers.
The woman's attack made it possible for her husband to run from the officers, according to Winder. The man jumped over a fence of a nearby yard, and an officer gave chase.
It was "fairly soon after" the man had jumped the fence that the officer fired a single shot, hitting the fleeing man, the sheriff said. Arriving police officers began chasing after the man, who continued evading them for the length of a few houses before collapsing onto a driveway because of his gunshot wound, Winder said.
The sheriff said he was unsure whether the man fleeing the officer was armed, but he noted early Wednesday evening that no weapon had been recovered from the scene.
Other details about the shooting and what prompted it were not immediately available. Winder said he had been given "no indication at all as to what transpired" that prompted the officer to fire his weapon.
"We don't know what transpired from the moment they were out of view," he said.
A witness filmed police officers rendering aid to the man after he was shot, but there were no other witnesses "who have come forward," the sheriff said. That video will be turned over to police as part of the investigation, he said.
Winder also said the officers "immediately" gave the man first aid, called in medical personnel and applied a tourniquet.
Melanie Golliet, who lives nearby, said she saw the man who was shot "crouched down by the car" during the ordeal, though she wasn't sure whether that was before or after he had been wounded. The scene was chaotic, she said.
"Our neighborhood (is) really quiet," Golliet said. "We don't have a lot going on so it definitely makes you think about things."
The officer was not wearing a body camera. The Unified Police Department is receiving some body cameras soon through a federal grant, but many officers will still be without one, Winder said.
A body camera may have helped provide more definitive information, but Winder said he believes the investigation can still be completed successfully using the testimonies of everyone in the area, including officers. The investigation into the shooting has been turned over to Salt Lake police.
"We want to know the truth, and we want to know it as rapidly as possible," Winder said. "That is our expectation. … Our philosophy is that as soon as we understand the nature of these circumstances, we will transmit that to the public."
The officer who fired his weapon was put on administrative leave. He cut his hands "rather severe(ly)" while jumping the fence and was taken to a hospital, Winder said. The officer was later listed in good condition. His name was not released Wednesday.
Investigators also didn't identify the man who was shot or provide any information about the felony warrant. Police were deliberating early Wednesday evening whether the alleged assault of an officer by the man's wife warranted an arrest.
