Footage from a body camera taken during an altercation in February has just been released. The video shows a police officer and a trespasser in Utah engaged in an altercation which resulted in the suspect being killed with his own gun.
On February 21, two Roy, Utah police officers responded to a trespassing call at a gas station. When police arrived on the scene, the alleged trespasser was still there. Police tried to talk to 38-year-old Nicolas Sanchez but he was reluctant to comply. Body camera footage released Friday shows how this scenario unfolded and how Sanchez and the officer ended up in a physical altercation, resulting in 16 shots fired in six seconds and Sanchez killed.
“What do you want to talk to me for?” Sanchez asked the officer.
“I will let you know. We got called over here on you,” one officer says, pointing to Sanchez.
“What did I do, though?” Sanches asks. Eventually, Sanchez moves out of the entrance of the gas station and agrees to talk to the officers.
“Keep your hands out of your pockets for me,” one officer tells him.
“Oh, sorry, I ain’t got nothin’,” says Sanchez, lifting his sweatshirt. That’s when one officer spotted a gun in his waistband.
“You got a gun on you. Do not reach for it,” the officer tells him.
“Huh?” says Sanchez. One officer starts to walk towards him and tries to grab him, but Sanchez turns around and takes off.
“What are you doing, dude? What are you doing?” Sanchez asks.
Heather White, an attorney for Roy City said, “At one point, the officer trying to wrestle the gun from Sanchez’s hands saw the gun pointing at his face.”
White said the officer standing away from the struggle saw that his partner was in danger, and opened fire. During the struggle, the officer took the gun from Sanchez.
White’s statement also said:
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.
Sanchez did have an extensive criminal history, which included charges of 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. The Weber County attorney’s office investigation is ongoing so the identities of the officers involved have not been released yet.
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