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SALT LAKE CITY — No criminal charges will be filed against a Salt Lake police officer who shot and killed a man more than four years ago.
But Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill would not say Friday whether he found the shooting to be legally justified or not, noting that the investigation into the shooting death of 32-year-old Delorean Pikyavit was unlike any police shooting his office has reviewed in recent years because it not only included the opinions of use-of-force experts, but was also submitted to a grand jury for consideration.
"This was a very different process. So in this different process, that language (legally justified or not justified) is not relevant," Gill said Friday while announcing his decision. "What I can say to you is that we found sufficient concern to request a petition to a grand jury for the purpose of making the determination of filing criminal charges."
But Salt Lake police say they believe that the grand jury's decision not to file charges against Sgt. Joshua Allred "is a decision that our community deemed our officer's actions justified under the law."
The Pikyavit case had been the oldest police shooting case that Gill had yet to make a decision on.
On April 18, 2018, Salt Lake police were called to a domestic violence situation in the area of 1132 E. Princeton Ave. (1155 South). They say Pikyavit had assaulted his girlfriend, was breaking windows in her house, and was holding a pair of scissors to his own throat.
The girlfriend went to a neighbor's house to call 911. By the time police arrived, Pikyavit had followed her to the neighbor's house and was outside the residence on the sidewalk. When officers approached, he ran back into the first house. Police say they could see that he was holding a knife and a pair of scissors.
A crisis negotiator was called to the scene, but Pikyavit made comments that he was "going out with a bang," according to police. That prompted officers to call out a SWAT team about 30 minutes later.
During the course of the standoff, Pikyavit made comments that he is not going back to jail and that he is "going to die today," according to a report from Gill's office.
He eventually walks out of the house holding a knife in one hand and half-pair of scissors in the other while telling officers to "Shoot me," according to police.
The SWAT team set up on the sidewalk in front of the house about 22 feet away. One officer held a ballistic shield, two were armed with rifles and third with a weapon that fired less-lethal rounds, Gill said.
"Do me a favor and sit down. Will you sit down for me?" an officer is heard yelling at Pikyavit on an officer's body camera video. "It's not a time to play games right now."
Over the next 90 seconds, Pikyavit was told nine times to sit down and 11 times to drop his weapons.
"We can end this peacefully. Come on then, it's OK. ... Come on man, put the knife down," an officer is heard telling Pikyavit.
There are two steps leading to the front porch. Pikyavit steps off the porch to the top step and is immediately told by officers not to come any further. He then steps onto the bottom step and is seen in the video swinging his arms as he shuffles side to side on the step. Police again warn him not to take another step off the bottom step.
During this time, there are officers talking over each other in the video. Allred is specifically told to be quiet and let another officer talk, according to the report.
When Pikyavit puts one foot off the bottom step onto the pathway leading to the sidewalk, Allred fired and another officer fired a less-lethal round simultaneously. Allred's shot resulted in Pikyavit's death.
On Friday, during a press conference to explain how he reached his decision not to file charges, the district attorney said his office sought the opinions of three use-of-force experts: Eric Daigle, an attorney and retired police officer from Connecticut; retired Ogden Police Chief Randy Watt; and a retired police chief out of Missouri, Steve Ijames.
- Daigle concluded that the shooting was not legally justified. Specifically, he noted in his written opinion that Allred fired just milliseconds after the less-lethal round was fired. He believes Allred did not follow the protocols already established by the tactical team, which was to use a less-lethal option first.
"It was clear from the video that the other team members were surprised to learn that Sgt. Allred had fired a shot simultaneously to the (less-lethal round)," Daigle wrote in his report.
- Watt believed the shooting was legally justified, noting that "Pikyavit decided to attack."
"The officers were placed in an untenable position where shooting him was necessary and law and policy supported their split-second decision," he wrote in his opinion.
- Ijames' opinion includes statements from Allred who said that when Pikyavit took his final step off the stairs, he was "definitely not" about to sit down, according to the report.
"Sgt. Allred added that the forward step was a deliberate step forward with forward motion and coming toward Sgt. Allred," Ijames' report states. Allred also told investigators that Pikyavit had an "expression" on his face of not wanting to give up.
Ijames concluded based on the totality of the circumstances, the shooting was legally justified. However, the manner in which the SWAT team acted was "inconsistent with contemporary training and practice" and "increased the probability of a negative outcome," his opinion states.
On Friday, Gill said he found Daigle's option to be "very compelling" and the concerns he raised "very relevant."
"When you have a SWAT team that has a ballistic shield, is fully armed and has two rifles but also has a less-lethal (weapon), one would think that the protocol is to move that sequentially from less-lethal to lethal, if you will. And that was one of the things from our analysis that we were very concerned about," he said. "I think that the whole point of using less-lethal … is to see if it has the desired outcome and impact when you use it. That's not to say you might not have to go to lethal force."
But Gill said he also couldn't ignore the other opinions.
"I had this really weird space — not justified, justified, and one saying, 'Well, ultimately justified. But boy, there were some tactical and policy errors. But the conclusion is justified,'" he said. "We had three divergent views. And that raised questions about our ability to be able to carry our burden of proof."
Because of that, Gill said he decided to submit the case to a grand jury for review. A grand jury for state prosecutors only convenes twice a year and is a cumbersome process for cases to be submitted, he said while noting it added to the already drawn-out decision-making process. Ultimately, the grand jury decided not to file charges.
Gill laid out a timeline on Friday to explain why it took four years to reach a decision. Some of the reasons, he said, included:
- Allred issued a written statement explaining his actions eight months after the shooting and he agreed to be interviewed by investigators more than two years after the shooting.
- Setbacks due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The final expert report was not returned until April.
In their statement, Salt Lake police made note of the extended time it has taken to reach a decision.
"The Salt Lake City Police Department thanks the grand jury for their thorough review and consideration of this case. The amount of time this incident has remained under criminal review by the district attorney is regrettable. The recent decision by the grand jury demonstrates that our officers are called upon by the community to act with professionalism and bravery in very volatile and tense situations."
