SALT LAKE CITY — The family of a 26-year-old man shot and killed in his own driveway by Ogden police has filed a civil rights lawsuit against the officers involved and the city.

In their lawsuit, Juan and Rosa Mercado, along with their attorney Robert Sykes, described the killing of their son, Jovany Mercado-Bedolla, as an “execution.” During a press conference in September to announce their intention of suing unless a settlement could be reached, Juan Mercado called the shooting an “assassination.”

“They came to execute someone. They came to kill someone that night,” Mercado said. “They were maniacs, the way they were shooting.”

The family contends that Jovany Mercado was not threatening police or anyone else that night, he had a right to open carry a knife, he was on his own property, and that he was obeying the commands of Ogden police officers.

But an attorney for the city of Ogden disagrees, stating Mercado refused to obey commands by police to put his knife down and continued to advance on officers.

On Aug. 16. 2019, just before 9 p.m., Ogden police officers Brandon Sevenski, Nigel Bailey, Karson Garcia and John Poulsen responded to the 3100 block of Gramercy Avenue on a report of a man with a knife.

Neighbors who were having a party across the street from Mercado’s residence called police because the man with the knife — who they did not recognize — “seemed disoriented” and was looking into vehicles, according to police.

In their lawsuit, the Mercado family claims the officers should have known they were responding to what was essentially a welfare check.

“Jovany was obviously disoriented, intoxicated and/or mentally impaired or mentally ill. Jovany never threatened anyone. Jovany never assaulted or threatened to assault anyone,” the lawsuit states.

When the officers arrived on scene, they spotted Mercado in a carport.

But attorney Heather White, who is representing Ogden city and the police department, said at that time the officers did not know who was in the carport or that the man was on his own property. She said when they approached him, their guns were in their holsters.

“Their intent was to just talk to Mr. Mercado, who they didn’t know was Mr. Mercado…and find who he was and what he was doing there and if he had a right to be there and if there was cause for concern. They were never able to do that,” she said.

With the officers shining their flashlights on Mercado, White said he shifted a pocket knife from one hand to the other, flipped open the blade, and began walking toward the officers.

As Mercado walked at a steady pace down his driveway, the officers can be heard in body camera videos yelling orders such as “put the knife down” and “drop the knife.” Mercado continued to walk toward them but never raised his arms.

Initially, Mercado and the officers were separated by a fence at the end of the driveway. The officers, who are positioned in a semi-circle, continued to walk backwards as Mercado went down the driveway. The moment he walked through an opening in the fence, all four officers fired. White said 20 shots were fired in total, striking Mercado 16 times.

“They improperly demanded that he surrender his pocketknife in violation of the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. ... When he did not do so within a few seconds, all four opened fire on him and killed him on his own property,” the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit further alleges that the 911 call from neighbors “made it clear that Jovany was likely having an episode of mental illness,” and at no point did they say that Mercado was breaking the law or “making any threats to any citizens.”

Likewise, as Mercado walked toward the officers, he made “no threatening movements toward any of the officers or toward any other person. At the time deadly force was used, under the circumstances, Jovany did not constitute a risk of death or serious bodily injury to any officer or to another person,” the suit states.

The family says Mercado also did not make any verbal threats toward officers and was walking “at a normal pace” toward them, according to the lawsuit.

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“Jovany was given virtually no time — just a few seconds — to comply with the confusing and overlapping ‘drop it’ and ‘come to them’ commands of the officers,” the lawsuit states.

White, however, contended that Mercado advanced towards the officers in a way they “perceived was very aggressive.”

“His arms were puffed out. The look on his face, that you can’t capture on the video, was the thousand-yard stare that you hear people talk about, that is someone that has made up their mind about what they’re going to do, and it’s a dangerous situation to be in,” she said.

While acknowledging that Mercado never charged at the officers, “he did pick up the pace and continued to do that as the officers were backing away and trying to create more distance and give time to be able to avoid having to use this lethal force,” White said.

Because of the “21-foot rule,” which states officers are to use deadly force if an armed suspect gets within 21 feet of them, White said less-lethal force — such as a Taser or pepper spray — was not an option. Furthermore, White said if the officers had backed up any further, they risked shooting bystanders in the crossfire.

“They felt they had no choice at that time but to fire,” she said.

White said from the time officers first started talking to Mercado to when the shots were fired, 30 seconds had elapsed, but Mercado continued to disobey orders to put the knife down. In that circumstance, police can legally request a person put their weapon down if an officer feels threatened.

Responding to the claim that police should have known that Mercado wasn’t in a proper head space at the time, White said officers had only received information that he “may” be intoxicated, but they did not know for sure nor did they know his intentions.

The lawsuit also names Ogden police detective Trent Fusselman, who the family claims wrote an illegal search warrant on the Mercado residence after the shooting in order to seize video from the family’s home surveillance system that recorded the incident.

“Fusselman knowingly, improperly, and unconstitutionally falsified information and omitted information in order to obtain a fraudulent search warrant of the Mercado premises,” the lawsuit states.

The Weber County Attorney’s Office determined the shooting was legally justified and no action was taken against the officers following an internal affairs review.

Even though the family held a press conference in September announcing they were looking for an out of court settlement, White said Thursday that the city never made an offer to settle.

Ogden police are expected to file their response to the lawsuit within three weeks.

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