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SALT LAKE CITY — Police officers who shot and killed a man armed with a rifle, and officers who shot another man who attempted to run them over in a separate incident were legally justified in using deadly force.
Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill announced those conclusions involving two different police shootings on Thursday. In doing so, Gill also became a little emotional as he renewed his call for help for veterans.
"Far too often, we're failing our veterans. And we need help further upstream than downstream is the reality of where we are," he said. "You've heard me say this, and I'll keep saying it as long as I have the privilege to say it: We need to do better by our veterans and we need to get them the assistance and help that they need — because this is a loss all the way around."
Police responded late at night on Oct. 4, 2023, to a Taylorsville home near 3800 West and Ridgecrest Drive on a report of an armed domestic violence incident. Joseph Nicholas Potts, 34, was reported to be intoxicated, suicidal and armed.
Just before officers arrived at the scene, his wife and 3-month-old infant were able to flee the home to a neighbor's house unharmed.
Potts began firing shots with a rifle inside the house, according to police. Taylorsville police, who originally responded to the call, requested help from the West Valley police SWAT team.
West Valley police detective Tyler Thompson, a member of the SWAT team, was positioned as a sniper on a neighboring rooftop, according to Gill's report on the police shooting.
Early in the morning on Oct. 5, about two hours after the initial 911 call, Potts walked out of his residence armed with an AR-15 and wearing a bullet-proof vest and appeared to have infrared lights, Gill said. He then walked onto his driveway, got onto his stomach next to a vehicle, and appeared to point his rifle in the direction of three officers, including Thompson, who were on top of a roof across the street.
"That sequence is really critical. You see the suspect exit, he's heavily armed, he's fully plated, and he moves between the vehicles, and then he goes down into a prone position where he points his AR directly at the line of the officers who are on the roofline," said Gill as he showed body camera video from the incident.
Although the video is dark, Gill said the communication that can be heard between Thompson and the other officers was important in understanding how the shooting unfolded. Thompson can be heard whispering statements such as, "'That's an IR ChemLight,' 'And mags,' and then, 'He's aiming at us,'" according to the report, which also noted that officers watching Potts from the rooftop feared he "may have access to IR night vision."
Thompson then fired four times from about 38 yards away, striking and killing Potts.
Gill met with Potts' widow prior to announcing his decision on Thursday. He says that she wanted to convey that the actions of her husband that night were not typical of who he was. Gill says Potts was a veteran — who family members described as being an "excellent shot" — who was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
"If he wanted to shoot (the officers), he could have shot them," Potts' family conveyed to Gill.
Gill then became a bit emotional and took a long pause while saying that it's possible Potts wanted the police officers to shoot him.
"Anytime there's a loss of life, it is terrible. There was a lot going on in Mr. Potts' life. And one of those things that the family wanted me to understand, which I absolutely understand, is that he was suffering from PTSD, he was suffering from these different things, and they really wanted to communicate that. They really didn't think he wanted to harm anybody," he said.
But based on the totality of Potts' actions, Gill said Thompson was justified in shooting him. He noted that when officers got to Potts' body after he was shot, his index finger was still inside the trigger guard of his rifle which was pointed in the area where the officers had been watching.
Murray shooting
The other shooting happened on Sept. 13, 2023, when Murray police pulled over Kelsey Raymond Robinson in the parking lot of Fashion Place Mall for a traffic violation. When officer Bryan Talbot ran the license plate and discovered it was listed as stolen, he called for a backup officer to respond to the scene.
But as the two officers attempted to take Robinson into custody, he threw his vehicle into reverse. One officer "made contact" with the vehicle but was able to avoid becoming pinned, according to Gill's report.
"I just remember seeing this car accelerating, like towards me. I mean, legit, the car's rear windshield was like in my face. ... I had to jump out of the way, to my left. So I jumped out of the way, and right behind me was Talbot's push bumper on his car. So, I mean I was a half-second away from getting pinned just in between both cars," Murray police officer Thomas Yates said in the report.
Talbot was "scooped" into the driver's side door and carried a short distance before Robinson's car crashed into an officer's patrol car.
"As the impact occurred, officer Talbot's body slammed into the inside door frame, his head also appearing to hit the vehicle, and the open driver's door slammed onto him. Mr. Robinson then quickly turned the steering wheel to the right and began accelerating forward. As he did so, officer Talbot maneuvered out from the vehicle and drew his firearm," according to the report.
Talbot fired four times into the vehicle. Robinson crashed into another parked vehicle, pushing it 8 feet, before continuing out of the parking lot, the report states.
Talbot suffered a concussion and minor injuries to his arm and leg. He was treated at a local hospital.
Robinson, 30, of Indianapolis, Indiana, was arrested following a high-speed chase in Colorado. He was treated at a hospital for two gunshot wounds to his arm, the district attorney's report states.
Although Gill has rarely found officers legally justified when they shoot at moving vehicles, he says this case was different because the officer was still being carried by the moving vehicle when he fired.
"What was contextually different about this one was that I have an officer who is literally being swept up into that zone of danger, if you will. And he's reacting to that situation while he's in the moment of being harmed," he said.
Robinson was later charged in 3rd District Court with two counts of assault on an officer resulting in injury, a second-degree felony, and other charges. In February, Robinson pleaded guilty to assault on a police officer, a second-degree felony, and was sentenced in April to a term of one to 15 years in the Utah State Prison.
