10 Exchange Place, 11th Floor

Salt Lake City, Utah 84111

Main: 801.521.9000
www scmlaw com

Heather S. White
LAWYER

PRESS STATEMENT March 31, 2017

2/21/2017 POLICE SHOOTING
ROY CITY, UT

Contact info: Attorney Heather White

(801) 322-9125

I have been hired by Roy City to respond to requests from local news organizations regarding
body camera recordings of the two Roy City police officers involved in the February 21, 2017
shooting of Nicolas Sanchez. Today, the City is releasing those recordings. It is not releasing
the names of the officers involved in the shooting at this time because an investigation by the
Weber County Attorneys office is still ongoing.

On February 21, 2017, two Roy City police officers responded to a call from a local convenience
store clerk who, along with a customer, saw Sanchez loitering in the store and acting
suspiciously. His car was still running in the parking lot. Sanchez had an extensive criminal
history, which included assault, battery, robbery, drug possession, possession of stolen property,
gang activity, weapons violations, controlled substance violations, parole violations, DUI,
unlawful discharge of a weapon at a person from a car, and attempted murder.

Sanchez served time in prison, and was recently released from parole. As a convicted felon, he
was prohibited from possessing a firearm.

There were several customers at the store, two were standing near Sanchez. We have blurred
their faces in the body camera recording to protect their privacy.

The officers approached Sanchez, stated they were called about a person acting suspiciously and
said they wished to talk with him. Sanchez became argumentative, his hands continually
fidgeting at his waist line and pockets. Sanchez raised his sweatshirt, which revealed a handgun
tucked into the left side of his waistband. As you will see and hear in the tape, one of the
officers said, You got a gun on you. Both officers then told Sanchez not to reach for the gun.

At that point, Sanchez, backed away from the officers, swinging his right hand back and forth at
the officers and moving his left hand toward his left waistband, where his gun was. Sanchez
turned and began to flee. The first officer followed and a struggle ensued. He fought to wrestle
the gun from Sanchez. The second officer, standing back from the scuffle, saw Sanchezs hands
go to his waistband where he had seen the gun moments earlier. According to Heather White,
attorney for Roy City, At one point, the officer trying to wrestle the gun from Sanchez hands
saw the gun pointing at his face.
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It was clear to the second officer that his partners life was in imminent danger, and he began
firing at Sanchez. As that happened, the first officer was able to strip the gun from Sanchez.
Fearing Sanchez may have another weapon, and hearing shots fired, the first officer shot Sanchez
with the gun he had wrested from Sanchez. When the first officer saw Sanchez was not moving,
he dropped Sanchez gun and drew his gun from his holster. He did not fire any shots with his
gun.

The entire encounter lasted approximately one minute. The time from when the officers first saw
Sanchez had a gun to the last shot fired was approximately twelve seconds.

Sanchez reckless actions in those split seconds dictated the actions the officers took that day.
The officers did what they are trained to do and what we expect them to do: protect themselves
and others against violent and irrational behavior. Because of their actions, no one but Sanchez
was injured that night, stated White.

The DVD provided to you contains four MP4 files which comprise the body camera footage
taken from both officers the night of the shooting. With the exception of blurring the faces of
civilian bystanders and redacting their names and addresses, the videos have not been edited but
require explanation.

The first file, named Body Camera 1, is the recording from the second officers body camera.
The first approximately fifteen seconds of the recording do not contain any sound because the
camera is programmed to recapture video, but not audio, fifteen seconds prior to activation of the
camera. You can see the officer reach to his chest to turn on the camera at approximately the
fifteen-second mark on the recording, which is when the audio begins. Shortly after the shooting
occurred, the second officer accidentally deactivated his camera when he hit his chest, likely
patting himself to make sure he had not been shot. Fortunately, the body camera is programmed
to recapture video for a time after it is deactivated. However, no audio is available for that
recaptured portion. Body Camera 3 begins at the same time shown at forty-eight seconds on
Body Camera 1, which still has sound because, as confirmed in Body Camera 1, the camera is
still recording. The camera is shut off, and the recaptured video begins, at the thirty-three-
second mark on Body Camera 3, and continues for another 14 minutes and 27 seconds, for a total
duration of fifteen minutes. When the second officer realized his body camera was not
activated, he turned it on. That recording is shown on Body Camera 4. Again, the first
approximately fifteen seconds of that recording does not contain sound because the camera was
not activated at that point. It was activated at approximately fifteen seconds into the recording
and continues for another twenty-eight minutes and thirty-five seconds, for a total recording of
twenty-eight minutes and fifty seconds.

Body Camera 2 is from the first officer, the officer who was wrestling to get the gun away from
Mr. Sanchez. The recording begins approximately fifteen seconds before the camera is activated
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and has no sound until the camera is heard to be activated at approximately fifteen seconds. It
continues uninterrupted for a total of eight minutes and seventeen seconds.
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