Two Roy Police Officers won a gunfight by disarming a suspect and shooting him with his own gun. The whole incident was captured on bodycam video (below.)
On February 21st at around 10 PM, two Roy city police officers were dispatched to a Texaco gas station for a suspicious person, according to Salt Lake Tribune. The man drove up to the gas station, and was loitering in front of the store while leaving his car running in the parking lot.
The circumstances warranted a stop of the suspect to investigate if he was planning to rob the gas station.
Two unidentified officers arrived and contacted Nicolas Sanchez, 39, in front of the entrance. Sanchez asked the officers what he did as they asked him to step away from the door.
“Or do you just want to be arrested right now? Your choice,” the officer told him.
Sanchez went to put his hands back in his pocket, and officers told him to keep his hands visible.
“I don’t have nothing,” Sanchez said, as he quickly lifted up his sweatshirt, briefly revealing a gun in his waistband.
“You got a gun on you, do not reach for it,” one officer told Sanchez as the other moved forward to take control of him.
Nicolas Sanchez then took off running, while reaching for the gun in his waistband.
One officer got on top of Sanchez, tackling him, grabbing his gun, and shooting him with his own gun. The second officer opened fire as his partner was only inches away from the hail of gunfire. Neither officer was hit during the gunfight. Sanchez died on scene.
The city hired Attorney Heather White to explain the situation with the release of the video.
“Fearing Sanchez may have another weapon, and hearing shots fired, the first officer shot Sanchez with the gun he had wrestled from Sanchez. When the first officer saw Sanchez was not moving, he dropped Sanchez’s gun and drew his gun from his holster,” White said.
“Sanchez’s 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,” White concluded. “Because of their actions, no one but Sanchez was injured that night.”
There has been a lack of outrage over this shooting, although Sanchez was shot for the same reason that Alton Sterling was; he reached for his gun. Except, Sterling still had access to his gun at the time he was shot.
Even absent the reasoning that another gun may be present, Sanchez made a move to kill officers. Once somebody shows their intent to kill cops, they continue to be a threat as long as they are fighting. Nicolas Sanchez could have had a knife as well as another gun, but also could have just wrestled his gun back from the officer.
If you try to kill a police officer, they will continue to fight until you are not longer presenting a threat. The officer who disarmed Sanchez had no reasonable alternative to shooting him.
It doesn’t matter if you have a knife, or a gun, or you try to take an officer’s weapon. If you try to kill police officers, you will most likely end up dead. And if you survive, then you are going to be imprisoned for your crime.
Good job, heroes.
These officers got to go home and the suspect is no longer a threat.
You can see the gunfight below. WARNING: Graphic footage:
