SOUTH SALT LAKE CITY — The controversy over the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., has renewed interest in another recent police shooting.
Some of the details are similar: An unarmed young man. An officer who says the suspect refused to follow orders and behaved in a threatening manner. A decision not the charge the officer with any crime, despite an outcry from some in the community.
But there are also some key differences: Suspect Dillon Taylor, 20, was white. And in the Salt Lake City shooting, the officer wore a body camera that captured the entire incident.
Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said in a statement this week that the officer was clearly justified in the shooting, despite the fact that the suspect was unarmed, KTSU reported.
Police were called to a convenience store on a report of a man with a gun, the station reported. Officers arrived to find Taylor nearby.
Footage from the officer’s body camera appears to show Officer Bron Cruz confronting the suspect, who ignores commands to stop and show his hands.
Officers said Taylor then quickly moved his hands up from his waistband, prompting Cruz to shoot him in the chest and stomach.
The suspect subsequently died. No weapons were found nearby.
Taylor’s blood alcohol level was .18 when he was shot, well above Utah’s .08 legal limit, police said
DA Gill said Taylor’s Facebook posts contained references to suicide just days before he died.
