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Everything to do inside of Park City proper.

Part-Time Park City Resident Disturbed By Local Police Tactics

summitcountysherrif.org

A part-time Park City resident on his way to Olympic Park witnessed Summit County officers employ tactics by the Smith’s grocery store in the Newpark area. He thought officers were a bit too aggressive for hwat appeared to be a traffic stop. Lieutenant Andrew Wright said traffic stops are one of the most dangerous scenarios for officers and Melissa Allison tells us why:

In 2017 the FBI reports 93 police officers were killed in the line of duty in 25 states and Puerto Rico.

Forty-six of those officers were feloniously killed while conducting traffic stops and traffic violations. Six were in pursuit of a suspect, five were ambushed and one was an officer who encountered an emotionally disturbed person.

As of August 31, 2018, 38 more police officers have been killed under similar circumstances.

On Friday Clyde Getty, a part-time Park City resident, witnessed Summit County officers yelling instructions at the driver of a Toyota who was already on his knees with his hands behind his back.

But it wasn’t the yelling that upset Getty, it was the rifle the officer had pointed at the suspect – just two feet away from his back.

“I don’t think that you need a rifle, pointed point-blank at someone’s back when they’re already on their knees and have their hands behind their head," Getty said. "And the police officer is yelling “put your hands behind your head.” Their already there and he’s got a rifle pointed, point-blank, that bothers me. You can use a taser, you can use other things. I don’t think it was right for people to see a rifle pointed point-blank at somebody from the back. Just like, overdone from the police department. I understand they have to be safe and such, but if the guy had twitched, and the police officer had twitched the trigger, the guy would be dead.”

What Getty didn’t know was the car had been reported as stolen, resulting in what police officers call a high risk stop.

Summit County Police Lieutenant Andrew Wright said the officers followed protocol, but he understands why seeing something like that would be upsetting.

“In a high-risk stop, officers are trained to have their firearms presented in case there is a need for them," Wright said. "It may come across as scary to the public if someone were to witness this, but it is something that we take very seriously. It’s a felony crime to be in possession of a stolen vehicle and of course, the majority of time a weapon is never used but its because of the nature of the risk, the very high risk, that is associated with this.”

Wright said they have the community’s safety at the forefront of their mind but they don’t always get to choose the location where an incident takes place as was the case on Friday.

Wright did said he is glad Getty said something.

“We appreciate when the community questions kind of what we do and want an understanding and answers to some questions," Wright said. "I think that its healthy conversation and it gives us an opportunity to educate our community on what we do and why we do it. And, again keeping in mind that, the actions that we take are to make sure that we do things very safely and to minimize the risk to our community.”

Though Getty was disturbed by what he saw, he chuckled after hearing the full story.

The driver had reported his car stolen and later realized it had been repossessed. He was able to get his car back but had forgotten to notify the authorities.

He was able to drive away, having learned a valuable lesson – notify the police you got your car back if you’ve reported it stolen - but his passenger wasn’t so lucky.

Thirty-five-year-old Daniel Jason Martinez of Salt Lake had a $15,000 warrant out for his arrest from the 3rd District of Salt Lake. To make matters worse, the arresting officers discovered heroin in his possession.

I’m Melissa Allison, KPCW News.