- Salt Lake City police released body camera footage of a fatal Oct. 29 shooting.
- Jose Hernandez, 47, was shot after throwing a rock at officers during an altercation.
- The officer who shot Hernandez is on paid leave pending investigation; Hernandez later died in hospital.
SALT LAKE CITY — Body camera footage from a fatal shooting involving police last month was released by the Salt Lake City Police Department on Monday.
Police say they received a call on Oct. 29 from a man who said his friend had been attacked in the middle of the street near 2100 S. 300 West. Two officers responded to the address to investigate.
The body camera footage shows police speaking with several people, who confirm that some type of altercation had occurred. It then shows an officer speaking with 47-year-old Jose Hernandez, who was sitting on a curb with his back to 300 West. The officer offers Hernandez medical attention, which he declines.
At about the 6:13 mark in the video, Hernandez can be seen gathering landscaping rocks from behind the curb where he is sitting and putting them into the front pocket of his sweatshirt. He then stands up and backs away from the officer as he takes one of the rocks out of his pocket and holds it, the video shows.
The officer tells Hernandez to put the rocks back and sit down as another officer approaches.
"He's got a rock in his hand like a weapon," the first officer tells the approaching officer.
"Drop the rock now!" the approaching officer yells to Hernandez.
Hernandez then turns and walks south along 300 West, away from the two officers. In the video, the officers can be heard telling Hernandez to stop and put the rock down, but Hernandez darts into traffic, running across 300 West.
As Hernandez reaches the northwest corner of 2100 South and 300 West, the video shows him turning and throwing the rock at one of the pursuing police officers. The officer fires at least one round, hitting Hernandez.
"Shots fired. Get medical here now," the other pursuing officer is heard saying in the video.
The Salt Lake City Fire Department and Gold Cross responded to transport Hernandez to a hospital, where he later died.
Salt Lake City Police Det. Michael Ruff said the officer who fired the shots has been placed on paid administrative leave. Additional video footage can be found on the Salt Lake City Police Department's YouTube channel, along with audio from the initial 911 call.
