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Salt Lake City's Police Civilian Review Board found that the actions of two police officers who shot and critically wounded a 17-year-old in February were "not within" policy, according to a report made public Friday.
Last month, however, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill found that officers Kory Checketts and Jordan Winegar — who both fired their weapons, striking Somali refugee Abdullahi "Abdi" Mohamed four times — were legally justified in the shooting.
Days after Gill's ruling, Mohamed, now 18, was charged in 3rd District Juvenile Court with aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony, and drug possession with intent to distribute, a second-degree felony.
Mohamed is accused of assaulting another man, with what later proved to be a hollow metal mop handle, after a dispute about a drug purchase the night of Feb. 27, outside a downtown homeless shelter.
It was that alleged assault by Mohamed which prompted Checketts and Winegar to fire at the teen.
But the review board's report indicates the fight appeared to be winding down and there was "no increased urgency" in Mohamed's attack just before the shooting. Nor was there any increased urgency in the alleged victim's response to Mohamed at that point in the confrontation, the report states.
The report adds, however, that Mohamed did not "respond to any command to stop, or to drop the object," which appeared to the officers to be a metal sword or pole capable of inflicting serious injury or death.
The officers stated that they feared Mohamed was raising the pole to strike his adversary again, an action not clearly seen in the videos reviewed by investigators. But the report states that Mohamed's natural arm movements, as he "leisurely" walked toward the man, might have resulted in the pipe being raised and lowered.
The report adds: "There was no increased urgency, in this last attack, discernible on the [police body camera] recordings ... "
The review board noted that in examining an officer's actions in relation to department policy, "deadly force shall only be exercised when all reasonable alternatives have been exhausted or appear impractical." The board also noted that the SLCPD's policy regarding deadly force is more restrictive than state law.
Rick Rasmussen, an investigator for the civilian review board, said Friday that the board's deliberations are confidential.
Rasmussen said, however, "I think the panel considered all of the evidence and spent a great deal of time discussing it and they exchanged points of view and made a reasoned decision, as the system is set up to provide."
"This wasn't a five-minute discussion," he added. "These five citizens spent a great deal of time arriving at their conclusion."
The board relied heavily upon Gill's 24-page document, which resulted from a nearly six-month investigation.
The D.A.'s report states that the officers were called to The Road Home shelter, 210 S. Rio Grande St., that evening to investigate a report of a stolen cellphone.
As the two officers left the building they were in, they saw a disturbance "some distance away," according to the district attorney's report.
Gill has said the teen was selling drugs at the shelter and that the assault stemmed from a dispute about a drug purchase.
According to the charges filed against Mohamed, a man approached him outside the shelter, court papers say, looking to buy a marijuana cigarette for $1.10. Mohamed told the man, identified as K.M. in the district attorney's report, that he had only methamphetamine, and insisted that K.M. should turn over his money so Mohamed could find him a joint.
K.M. refused, according to court records, and instead offered Mohamed a metal rake handle that he had found in the trash.
This made Mohamed "really mad," K.M. told police, and the teen began hitting him with the rake handle. A second man wielding a metal pipe joined in the assault.
When the officers got closer, according to their statements, they could see two men with long, metallic objects. At least one of them was hitting a third person with the object, according to the findings.
In an interview with investigators, Checketts said he saw both suspects drag their poles on the ground. He said the objects dragging on the ground made metallic sounds.
"Checketts said he thought: 'Oh my gosh, they have swords.' "
He said he yelled to the suspects: "Stop! Police! Drop the weapon!"
Checketts said he drew his firearm because he believed the suspects had metal objects, like swords or pipes, and he could see the suspects were advancing on the victim, according to the report. Checketts said he continued to order the suspects to stop and drop their weapons.
One man dropped his weapon and ran away, according to Checketts' interview, but the other was closing in on the victim, who was purportedly backing away with his hands up. The officer drew his handgun from the holster because he believed the suspect could inflict death or serious bodily injury on the victim.
When Checketts saw the suspect start to raise the metal object, he decided he needed to use deadly force to stop the suspect and protect the victim, he told investigators.
The other officer, Winegar, told investigators it appeared the suspect was intent on going after the victim and that there "was nothing stopping him." The victim, Winegar said, appeared helpless as he backed away from the suspect.
"Officer Winegar said he continued to yell: 'Police! Stop! Drop it,' " according to the D.A.'s report. The suspect did not acknowledge his commands and did not comply.
The suspect continued to advance on the victim with a "slow, methodical rage, and he's like, on a mission," Winegar told investigators. He believed the suspect was going to kill the victim. Winegar said he believed there was "only one thing [he] could do to stop the threat" and that was to shoot the suspect, the D.A.'s report said.
The Civilian Review Board's report notes that K.M. suffered a large welt on the back of his right arm, bruised welts on his forearms and a red mark on his back. In K.M.'s interview, he credits the officers with saving his life, having feared the Mohamed could have "very easily" killed him.
The board notes that the mop handle used during the altercation was hollow because the video shows that it was bent afterward: K.M., they conclude, "did not suffer significant injuries." The board does not, however, expect the officers to have noticed that during their response because of the "nighttime conditions, poor lighting, and extremely quick time spans involved in this matter."
The board watched the body-cam footage captured by Checketts and Winegar — which has not been publicly released — noting that 21 seconds elapsed between when the officers reacted to the confrontation and fired their guns. Checketts fired once and Winegar three times, both shooting simultaneously, which the board said demonstrates "that both officers independently perceived the situation as becoming dire."
The board questioned whether a Taser could have been used to stop Mohamed rather that a gun, but concluded that, under the circumstances, a Taser may have been an ineffective response.
A witness interviewed during the investigation said, however, that it appeared Mohamed picked up the stick to "defend himself."
An attorney representing Mohamed was unavailable for comment Friday night.
A preliminary hearing for Mohamed is scheduled for Oct. 3. At that hearing, prosecutors will present evidence and Judge Julie Lund will decide whether there is enough for the case to go to trial.
The teen — who after the shooting was initially put into a medically induced coma and hospitalized for weeks — has denied the assertion that he had assaulted the victim over drugs.
"I wasn't doing none of that," Mohamed said last month.
The Salt Lake Tribune does not generally identify juveniles charged with a crime, but Mohamed's family publicly identified him in the wake of the police shooting.