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- A Utah Department of Natural Resources officer shot a man Tuesday night in Duchesne.
- The officer pulled over a vehicle and the driver was shot and injured.
- The State Bureau of Investigation is investigating the police shooting; the officer is on leave.
DUCHESNE — A Utah Department of Natural Resources officer shot and injured a man Tuesday night, shortly after pulling over a vehicle.
The officer pulled over a vehicle at about 10 p.m. near 470 W. Main. Officers in the area had been advised to be on the lookout for the vehicle, said Todd Royce, chief of the law enforcement division for the Department of Natural Resources.
Not long after stopping the car, "shots were fired," the department said Wednesday. The driver of the vehicle who pulled over, a man whose name has not yet been released, was injured and flown by medical helicopter to a hospital in Salt Lake County. The officer was not injured.
Royce said Wednesday that it was his understanding that the injuries to the man are not life-threatening. He said whether the man was armed or exchanged shots with the officer and what prompted the officer to shoot will be part of the investigation conducted by the State Bureau of Investigation.
"It happened very quickly, very fluidly," was all Royce said Wednesday.
Initially, there were two "attempt to locate" bulletins issued to officers in Duchesne County for the vehicle that was eventually pulled over, Royce said. The chief declined to comment on why the first advisory was issued. The second was because the vehicle was allegedly driving recklessly.
The Duchesne County Sheriff's Office also released a brief statement about the incident, stating that deputies were notified of a "suspicious person" at about 8:45 p.m. The statement does not say what the person was doing that was considered suspicious, but goes on to say the sheriff's office received another call "about the same vehicle."
That vehicle was "swerving all over the roadway and drove off the roadway and hit an unknown object," according to the sheriff's office.
The natural resources officer has been placed on standard administrative leave pending the results of the investigation.
"Officer-involved shootings are difficult. They're difficult for the department, they're difficult for families, for families of officers, for families of subjects and it's tough all the way around. We don't like when these things happen," Royce said.
The chief also said it's not uncommon for DNR officers to assist local law enforcement agencies, particularly in rural communities where there is a great cooperation between state, county and city officers.
"When a serious incident happens, law enforcement is pretty united in responding and taking care of stuff," he said.
