- Saratoga Springs police officer Dean Sekona now faces criminal charges for a 2024 shooting of Fernando Valenzuela.
- Sekona was deemed legally unjustified in using deadly force during a traffic stop.
- Valenzuela was seriously injured but survived.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — A Saratoga Springs police officer who was found not legally justified in shooting a man during a traffic stop in 2024 is now facing criminal charges.
Dean William Sekona, 34, of Springville, was charged Friday in 4th District Court with aggravated assault causing serious injury, a second-degree felony; and two counts of reckless endangerment, a class A misdemeanor.
On Oct. 17, 2024, Sekona pulled over a 2010 Mercedes for a window tint violation, according to changing documents, which refer to him as "then-officer" Sekona.
Fernando Valenzuela, 43, his girlfriend, his girlfriend's 13-year-old daughter and two dogs were in the car.
"The stop stretched over nearly an hour as officers attempted to verify the driver's identity and locate any valid licenses or identification. During the encounter, the driver provided a name that could not be verified by the computer checks, and a series of investigative steps failed to produce valid identification or a matching record for that name," the charges state.
About 50 minutes into the traffic stop, an investigator from the Utah Attorney General's Office learned that Valenzuela — whom he knew by another alias — was the man who had been pulled over. The investigator immediately called the Saratoga Springs Police Department to let them know that Valenzuela was being investigated for drug trafficking and was known to carry weapons, the charges say.
"Due to the information regarding possible weapons, the officers decided to conduct a 'felony stop or call out,' where the driver would be ordered out of the car at gunpoint due to safety concerns. Dean Sekona shouted orders to, 'Get out of the car,' and 'Get your hands up,'" according to the charges.
But after giving the commands with no response, "the brake lights of the car disengaged and the car started to roll forward. Dean Sekona immediately fired two shots at the driver with his rifle," the charges allege. "The first bullet entered the car through the rear-driver-side window, passed through the driver seat, and struck the driver's back near the lower left shoulder."
Though seriously injured, Valenzuela continued to drive away until he abandoned his car on Redwood Road and ran, according to an earlier report into the shooting from the Utah County Attorney's Office. Valenzuela was spotted 20 minutes later by a helicopter crew and was taken to a local hospital where he was treated for a collapsed lung.
Last month, the Utah County Attorney's Office determined that Sekona was not legally justified in shooting Valenzuela, explaining that "there was insufficient evidence at the time of the incident to establish probable cause that the driver posed an immediate risk of death or serious bodily injury to the officers or others," according to the court documents.
While Valenzuela did drive off to avoid arrest and interfered with the arresting officers, "those offenses also are not inherently dangerous to officers. Thus, the crimes at issue here did not justify the use of deadly force," the county attorney's report concludes.
