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SALT LAKE CITY — The officer-involved shooting and killing an armed bank robber as he ran through a West Jordan neighborhood and charged at officers has been ruled to be legally justified.
Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill issued his finding Thursday on the Nov. 2 shooting, saying that West Jordan officer Keith Jenkins believed the man he and other officers were pursuing had no regard for his own life or the lives of others, and if he wasn't stopped, posed a danger to officers and residents in the neighborhood.
Police say Jesse Jay Taylor, 40, of Spanish Fork, went to Mountain America Credit Union, 6761 S. Redwood Road, and robbed a teller at gunpoint. According to Gill's report, the teller slipped marked bills into the cash she gave Taylor, as well as a GPS tracker that police used to locate him.
Data from the tracker indicates that, as Taylor fled through nearby neighborhoods in his Chevy Silverado pickup truck, he frequently drove between 70 and 80 mph, at one point reaching a top speed of 102.9 mph.
Joining in the pursuit, Jenkins watched as Taylor's pickup crashed through lowered railroad crossing arms on a TRAX line.
"Officer Jenkins said that to him, the suspect's actions seemed to convey the suspect had no regard for his life or anyone else's life," Gill wrote.
Jenkins attempted to follow Taylor into a neighborhood, soon hearing over his police radio that Taylor had crashed into a fence of a home at 8880 S. 1095 West, then took off on foot.
As Taylor ran, holding a gun, officers including Jenkins repeatedly ordered him to stop and drop his weapon. As Taylor charged toward Jenkins and other officers "without slowing down or dropping the gun in his hand," Gill wrote, Jenkins said he realized the officer next to him wasn't wearing body armor.
Related:
Man shot and killed by West Jordan officer was armed, warrant states
At least two West Jordan police officers saw a gun in the hand of a suspected bank robber before he was shot and killed by a third officer, according to a newly unsealed search warrant."Officer Jenkins said he believed the suspect could have very quickly and very easily shot at him or anyone else," Gill wrote.
Jenkins also feared that, if Taylor made it past the line of officers, there could have been civilians directly in his path.
Jenkins fired three shots, one of which struck Taylor in the chest. When Taylor hit the ground, Jenkins and other officers rushed to provide medical assistance, but Taylor died upon arriving at an area hospital.
Following the shooting, Jenkins was placed on standard paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.
Just five days before the shooting, Taylor took a plea in abeyance to charges of drug possession and possession of drug paraphernalia, according to court records. He was convicted in that case of purchasing heroin and meth near 500 West and 200 North in April. He was arrested by Salt Lake police officers conducting a drug interdiction operation near the homeless shelter.
Taylor was convicted of possession of alcohol by a minor in several cases during the mid-1990s. He took a plea in abeyance to DUI in 2004, according to court records, and to possession of drug paraphernalia in 2012. Taylor was also convicted of misdemeanor retail theft in April. He had no prior felony convictions in Utah.
