There was an Officer-Involved-Shooting (OIS) in Weber County, Utah where an officer fired his weapon at an offender in a vehicle - who was driving away. Typically that brief fact pattern is enough to cause concern and likely trigger exhaustive administrative and criminal investigations into the officer’s actions.
But, added to the growing “bad facts” section of this case - there were allegedly three minor victims, being held against their will, in the offender vehicle at the time of the OIS…
Here’s what happened…
The Call
On December 31, 2023 deputies with the Weber County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call about an allegedly intoxicated driver. The caller provided the precise location, vehicle description (Blue BMW), and license plate of the suspect driver.
Now, calls like this are often from random concerned drivers who observe poor driving - but they typically have no other relevant information to provide to dispatch/police officers.
However, in this case, when the 911 operator asked the caller why he thought that the driver was drunk - the caller responded, “He grabbed his keys and left my house. He’s drunk”.
The caller also informed the operator that the driver was “a minor”, that there were three other “minor” passengers in the car, and that there was more alcohol in the vehicle.
The caller also informed the operator that the driver, “is going to run”.
Interestingly the caller had the “live location” of the vehicle and was able to report the real-time direction of travel and speed of the vehicle to the operator.
Given this information it is reasonable that police officers responded quickly and made a valiant effort to get this driver off the road. Even though it was New Years Eve and the streets were likely flooded with hundreds of drunk drivers. This one did deserve special attention.
Initial Contact
Deputies responded to the scene and were able to locate the suspected intoxicated driver. A traffic stop was initiated and the driver (later identified as 19 year-old Carter Edelman) refused to cooperate and fled from police.
The Deputies had reasonable suspicion to conduct the traffic stop and fleeing from law enforcement would be an additional felony criminal offense for Mr. Edelman.
Vehicle Pursuit
Deputies then engaged in a vehicle pursuit after the BMW. The Riverdale Police Department also joined in and assisted the Sheriff’s deputies in pursuit of Mr. Edelman.
It was reported that during the pursuit - that Mr. Edelman intentionally crashed into police vehicles two times - in an attempt to escape from law enforcement.
The first time was when the BMW entered a cul-de-sac, and officers used their vehicles in an effort to block the road. The BMW collided with a marked (and occupied) law enforcement vehicle, causing damage to the front right side of the police car as it escaped.
As Mr. Edelman continued to evade - he reached speeds nearing 100 mph.
Use of Force
It should be noted that dash cam video of this incident also depicts police officers intentionally crashing their vehicles into the BMW multiple times in an effort to stop the car. These maneuvers would be classified as uses of force and all appear to be objectively reasonable.
The pursuit ended after a Sheriff’s department pickup truck crashed into the front driver’s side of the BMW - disabling it.
At one point, as the BMW was in a parking lot of a business and driving towards a police officer - the officer exited his vehicle, stood by the driver’s side door, and yelled at Mr. Edelman to “Stop!”.
Mr. Edelman drove his vehicle extremely close to and nearly struck the officer. The BMW came so close to hitting the officer that he was able to place his left hand on the hood of the car as it narrowly missed him. Just after, as Mr. Edelman drove away, the officer fired multiple rounds at the fleeing vehicle.
(police body & dash cam footage)
Injuries, Charges, & Aftermath
Several police officers and Mr. Edelman sustained minor injuries.
There was one female passenger in the vehicle with Mr. Edelman. She explained that she had observed Mr. Edelman consume multiple alcoholic drinks before driving. She stated to police officers that she wanted to exit the vehicle once he began to evade law enforcement - but was unable to.
Carter Edelman was arrested and booked into the Weber County Jail on multiple charges, including: aggravated assault, failing to stop at the command of a police officer, unlawful detention, DUI, and reckless driving.
Analysis
The shots fired by the officer thankfully did not strike Mr. Edelman or the passenger.
Police officers can (generally) utilize deadly force if there exists a reasonable belief that the force would be necessary to prevent death or great bodily injury.
Even in cases where a vehicle is driving directly at a police officer - it is often not within policy or law for officers to shoot at the driver. This is because - even if the officer successfully strikes the driver - that would do little to stop the threat/the movement of the oncoming vehicle. Therefore, best practices indicate that an officer should not intentionally position themselves in front of moving vehicle and that every possible effort should be to move out of the way instead of “standing your ground”.
Officers who find themselves in these types of situations are often (sometimes unfairly) accused of engaging in “officer induced jeopardy”. That is where an officer intentionally (and unnecessary) positions themselves in an unsafe manner - so that deadly force will be the only option.
ie. “I jumped in front of the moving car so of course I had to shoot the driver.”
This OIS occurred after the vehicle had passed. The officer was no longer in immediate danger. Also, it had been reported that there were three minor passengers in the vehicle - who would be considered “victims”.
Firing at the vehicle as it was driving away makes it at least equally as likely that a victim would be struck by police gunfire as the offender.
For those reasons:
No immediate danger to officer.
High level of danger for the victims.
The use of deadly force by the officer was not objectively reasonable.
Since, no one was struck by the gunfire - the possible criminal charges against the officer would likely be the Utah equivalent of “reckless endangerment” or something to that effect (think Brett Hankison). Certainly not optimal but if the offender or a victim had been killed - the officer would likely be facing murder charges.
Using deadly force upon an offender vehicle that is driving away is likely a violation of any reasonable use of force policy.
I would expect the officer to lose his job but not his freedom.
Final Thoughts
As in many of these cases the officer who fired his weapon is not the real bad guy. The officer was placed in an unbelievably stressful situation, where he was nearly killed/seriously injured - that was entirely caused by Mr. Edelman.
The officer felt so strongly that the driver must be stopped that he even risked his own life by exiting the vehicle in an effort to stop Mr. Edelman. The officer had no intention to cause any harm to the passengers that he thought were in the vehicle. But, whether negligent or reckless, the officer erred in firing his weapon.
Absent the selfish actions of Mr. Edelman none of these officers would have been forced into this dynamic and dangerous situation. It is important to remember that the intentions of Mr. Edelman were to commit felonies in an attempt evade apprehension and the intention of the police officers was to end the encounter as quickly and safely as possible. The entire case should be clouded in that haze.
However, if we are being honest, the officer’s actions could have injured or killed any of the passengers in the vehicle - and that cannot be ignored.
An objective analysis of an OIS can recognize that officers with good intentions also have the capacity to engage in unreasonable uses of force.
Ok, I get your shooting at a vehicle that has already missed you and you fire rounds at it as it drives away with “three victims” inside. You need to unpack this whole incident, not just a micro second before and after the shots were fired to determine the mindset of a reasonable officer. This sounded like a prolonged pursuit, traffic conditions, this guy struck at least one occupied patrol unit on purpose, his actions, not the units ramming him. Then we have what sounded like multiple attempts at a pit maneuver, the occupied patrol units striking his vehicle in an attempt to stop it. All of this so far it sounds like your saying is a reasonable use of force, even with “three victims” inside the car. You don’t give enough facts to know every detail, but you state that the officer parked in front of the fleeing car and stepped out of his patrol unit yelling for the suspect to stop and as the suspect sped at him, he was close enough to reach out and push on the hood of the suspect vehicle and push away. As the vehicle continued, the officer fired shots at it, but missing the entire vehicle. What was the mindset of the officer, why did he shoot, you don’t give those reasons, you just state matter of factory that it was a unjustified use of force. If I was that officer, my mindset could have been, this guy is gonna kill someone, another officer or a civilian and we need to stop him now, as he is trying to splat me across the front of his hood. Draw, air, shoot, how many rounds, you don’t say, was it a whole mag dump, was it a few well placed rounds trying to strike the driver alone and nobody else. Either the guy sucked at shooting or was a decent shot, he missing the vehicle and everyone inside. This could easily be a “good shoot”, at least as far as a reasonable officer is concerned. Now the fad today of charging officers for any and every action they can and trying to put cops away for life for doing their jobs the vast majority of the time. Let me ask you a question, you were fine with ramming his car at high speeds, trying to cause him to wreck the vehicle, is that not lethal force also, crashing a car at high speeds usually doesn’t result in everyone just walking away and having a nice day after. So one use of deadly force, or multiple it sounds like in regards to the pit maneuver, are fine, but another deadly force use, ie, shooting at the driver as he tries to run you over is not. This whole incident is a action by officers that is described with little detail and broad decisions at least with the information provided.