Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — "I'm cool, bro," Josue Yahir Hernandez-Perez is heard telling officers from inside his wrecked car as they surrounded his car at gunpoint.
"I'm going to be good, all right, I promise."
Salt Lake police released three body camera videos Wednesday from officers involved in a pursuit that ended with the suspect vehicle crashing, resulting in the death of the passenger, 21-year-old Douglas Rodriguez.
Just after midnight on Oct. 8, Salt Lake police started receiving 911 calls about possible shots fired. About 12:20 a.m., emergency dispatchers received a call from a 20-year-old man who said he had been shot in the leg outside a bar near 900 S. State. Another man took the phone and was able to translate for the victim, who speaks Spanish, to the 911 dispatcher, according to a copy of the 911 call released Wednesday.
As police arrived in the area, officers spotted a car leaving the area at a high rate of speed. Believing there may be people in the vehicle connected to the shooting, officers attempted to pull the vehicle over and then chased it when the driver refused to stop.
The three body camera videos released this week start with officers getting in their patrol cars, turning on their lights and sirens and pursuing the fleeing vehicle.
As the black Mercedes sedan attempted to speed through a roundabout at 1100 East and 900 South, it failed to make the turn and crashed.
In the videos, officers exit their patrol cars and approach the wrecked vehicle — which has come to rest on the driver's side — with their guns drawn.
"Send medical," an officer tells dispatchers.
"Let's make an approach," another tells other officers.
As police try to figure out if anyone has run away from the wrecked vehicle, they quickly realize at least one person is still inside.
"There's blood, I think someone may be in there," an officer yells.
As the officers get closer, the driver, Hernandez-Perez, is heard calling out for help.
"I can't breathe," he yells twice. "I can't get out."
When police ask how many people are in the car, he says two, saying his "homeboy" is also in the vehicle.
"He's not talking," Hernandez-Perez says.
"Body camera footage showed Douglas Rodriguez directly on top of Hernandez-Perez in the driver's seat," according to charging documents.
Officers talk about ripping the damaged front windshield out in an effort to extricate the victims from the vehicle. An officer says he will "stay on lethal" as others work to get the men out, meaning he kept his gun out as a precaution.
The videos are cut off just as police are about to reach the injured men.
Rodriguez was pronounced dead at the scene. Because of that, the officer-involved critical incident protocol was invoked and West Valley police were called to investigate the fatal crash. Three Salt Lake officers were placed on standard paid administrative leave.
Hernandez-Perez was charged in 3rd District Court with manslaughter, a second-degree felony.
Data collected from the Mercedes "showed that two seconds before the crash, the vehicle was traveling 71 mph and neither the passenger nor the driver was wearing a seat belt," the charges state
Hernandez-Perez later claimed to investigators that he was leaving a party with Rodriguez when a police patrol car with its siren on passed them and Rodriguez started "tripping," and told Hernandez-Perez to "go, go, go, go," according to the charges.
"(Hernandez-Perez) claimed that the victim pushed his leg down and told him to go. (Hernandez-Perez) took off and was driving at a high rate of speed for over one mile, inconsistent with someone holding his leg down during this time," the charges state. "While fleeing, the defendant crashed his car while going approximately 71 mph through residential neighborhoods, which resulted in the death of the victim. (Hernandez-Perez) had three times the legal limit of alcohol in his system at the time he was admitted to the hospital."
