A Saratoga Springs officer was justified when he fatally shot a man who ran at him with the officer’s own Taser, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill ruled Tuesday.
Before the Dec. 10 police shooting, three Saratoga Springs officers were dispatched just before noon to a report of child abuse at a Bluffdale apartment complex. A 17-year-old boy told police that another resident at the complex, named Daniel Coello Villatoro, had choked him to the point of unconsciousness, according to a letter released Tuesday explaining Gill’s findings.
Villatoro drove off shortly after the assault, the boy told officers. Police then had the boy medically evaluated, and contacted his parents — noting that he had scratches and marks on his neck consistent with being choked, according to the letter.
Officers then headed to a police station to retrieve a form for the boy to fill out. But at about 12:37 p.m., dispatch notified the officers that Villatoro had come back to the complex and was speaking with the apartment manager, according to the letter.
When officers returned, they tried to arrest Villatoro outside of the complex’s clubhouse, the letter states. Body camera footage shared Tuesday shows Villatoro pull away and challenge the officers’ decision to arrest him, yelling “don’t f— with me” and “I didn’t assault anyone.”
Villatoro then headed toward his apartment as the officers followed with their Tasers drawn, body camera footage shows.
In a narrow hallway at the complex, officer Garrett Carter deployed his Taser at Villatoro and police continued to command Villatoro to get on the ground, but Villatoro threw a Taser probe from his sweatshirt and ran toward his apartment door, according to the letter.
As Villatoro entered his apartment, Carter attempted to “drive-stun” Villatoro by making direct contact with his Taser. But the Taser, which he “somehow let go of,” fell into the apartment, the letter states.
Carter stepped back and drew his handgun as the two other officers ran up the breezeway toward the apartment, according to the letter. Villatoro yelled “you f— with my s—” as the two other officers fired their Tasers into the apartment.
Villatoro then ran out of the apartment door with Carter’s Taser in his hand, and two of the officers retreated behind an exterior staircase. Villatoro raised the Taser as he ran toward the two officers, and Carter fired his handgun twice as another officer attempted to stun Villatoro with her Taser.
The entire confrontation, from when officers attempted to arrest Villatoro to when the man was shot, lasted less than a minute, Gill said Tuesday.
“It escalates very quickly,” Gill said.
Once shot, Villatoro dropped the Taser, then collapsed. Officers placed him in handcuffs. Despite life-saving efforts, he died at the scene.
Gill said investigators determined that Carter was familiar with Villatoro, because Carter had previously responded to the complex for a report that Villatoro had violated a protective order. However, Gill said prosecutors “did not see the direct relevance” of that information during the police shooting investigation.
In an interview with the district attorney’s office, one officer said she did not know what was in Villatoro’s hand when he ran at them, Gill said.
“We have the luxury of stopping the frame to show that it’s actually a Taser,” Gill said. “[Carter] has lost his Taser, but he doesn’t yell, ‘I’ve lost my Taser.’ And then he goes on to gun, and when [Villatoro] comes at him, that distance is right on top of him … [Villatoro’s] right on top of Carter when Carter is firing his weapon.”
The Saratoga Springs Police Department initially reported that Villatoro “confronted the officers with a weapon in his hand” before the police shooting, but did not specify that the weapon was an officer’s Taser.
Based on all available evidence, prosecutors concluded that it was not unreasonable for Carter to believe he or his fellow officers were in jeopardy when he fired his weapon, Gill said.
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