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WEST VALLEY CITY — A man previously involved in a shooting with West Valley police who was supposed to be in a federal halfway house was charged Wednesday in connection with another shooting.
Ricardo Jose Lopez, 28, is charged in 3rd District Court with three counts of assault on a police officer, a second-degree felony; injuring a police K-9, failing to stop for police and possession of a weapon by a restricted person, third-degree felonies; and six other misdemeanor crimes.
On July 15, a West Valley police officer attempted to pull Lopez over for allegedly driving recklessly near 1900 West and 3500 South. But when the officer turned on his overhead lights, Lopez slammed on his brakes, jumped the curb to do a U-turn and "drove straight into" the officer's patrol car, striking the rear fender, according to charging documents.
After hitting the patrol car and driving off, Lopez stopped a short time later, got out and ran to his uncle's house where he barricaded himself in the basement with a knife, the charges state.
"Lopez yelled back (to officers) several times that he was a gang member and wanted the police to come into the home so he could kill them," the charges say.
Police attempted to speak to Lopez, who was believed to be drunk, for several hours, according to the charges. Officers eventually fired tear gas into the basement.
"Lopez came barreling out of the house and 'bulldozing' into officers," one officer told prosecutors. That officer, a K-9 handler, released his police dog on Lopez.
"As the dog bit him, Lopez began punching it and punched detective Moore in the head as well," investigators wrote in the charges.
During the confrontation with officers, Lopez was shot at least once in the torso by police. He was treated at a local hospital and released the same day to the Salt Lake County Jail. The shooting was still being reviewed Wednesday by the Unified Police Department.
Officers also noted in court documents that "Lopez was supposed to be in a federal halfway house and was under the supervision of the Federal Bureau of Prisons."
Lopez has an extensive violent criminal history. He was also involved in an officer-involved shooting in 2016. Later that year, the detective who shot Lopez was cleared after the shooting was found to be legally justified.
