There is an incredible lawsuit pending in Salt Lake City, Utah. Perry Tucker and and his fiancée Brieanne Matson were concerned when Joey Tucker left the house without taking his diabetes medication and may have taken a sleeping pill. They allege that Salt Lake police officers responded by forcing Tucker off the road into a concrete barrier and then shooting him to death. The police insist that Tucker was a danger and reversed his car toward the officers.
The family says that they told police that they were “concerned about his health” and Tucker had not been drinking. A highway patrol officer caught up with him on Interstate 80 and rammed his car. Salt Lake Police Officer Louis “Law” Jones then shot Tucker to death while he “was simply sitting” in his car.
Officers Jones and Lisa Pascaldo and Highway Patrol Trooper Lawrence Hopper had trailed Tucker and Hopper than “attempted a pit maneuver while Joey was traveling below the speed limit.” On a second try, Tucker’s vehicle spinned out of control and hit the barrier. The complaint states that “[i]Immediately after Joey’s vehicle came to a stop with the vehicle in reverse with Joey sitting there with his hands on the steering wheel surrounded by Officer Jones, Officer Pascadlo, and Trooper Hopper, Officer Jones fired three shots, killing Joey.”
The family is now seeking punitive damages for wrongful death, loss of consortium and civil rights violations, and medical and funeral expenses.
The complaint says that a patrol car dash camera captured the incident. The complaint states that the video shows Tucker driving below the speed limit, stopping at lights, and complying with traffic signals.
The district attorney has declined thus far to bring charges, stating that Tucker was veering dangerously and that Jones saw Tucker “repeatedly reaching for something inside of the truck.” According to this article, the officers reportedly also attempted to get him to stop with their public address systems. After forcing the crash, the DA states that “Mr. Tucker reversed, then turned the wheels to drive forward toward officers who were on foot when officer Jones fired three shots into the truck, striking Mr. Tucker in the neck and torso.”
Source: Courthouse News
Kudos: Dave Mattox
What a crazy case. Let’s see the police video. That should tells us who is telling the truth. When are prosecutors going to go after these rogue cops? It is an epidemic.
When you are a hammer….everything looks like a nail.
From article: “The district attorney has refused to bring charges”
The DA needs to be fired if the Dashboard vid shows, as the linked article states, that the police are lying about Mr. Tyler’s actions and the policeman that shot him needs to be in jail. I’d also drug test (to include steroids) the policeman that shot Mr. Tyler.
Jesus H. Christ. Like rafflaw said, “Let’s go to the video tape.”
If it turns out that Barney Fife and pals are lying through their teeth, I hope the family’s suit is successful, the DA is fired, and Fife and pals are off the streets and locked up before they kill someone else.
I am against cops shooting unarmed civilians.
The dash cam….the traffic cameras show a lot… bring them to justice if this is the case…
the main question to be asked – is why was it necessary to ram him. When someone does not take their diabetic medicine – they are “without medication”.
What justification on G-d’s green earth can one use to substantiate a request to assist into a need for full scale arrest/assault with deadly force?
Sheeesssshhhh!
As others have said, have a public viewing of this video. If the police are in the wrong, then frankly, show no mercy because there’s zero excuse for any of it.
Who needs to call the police for this?
If there’s a cop with time for shit like this, fire him, there’s a recession.
If the family didn’t have a lawyer, or couldn’t justify enough of a price for his life, this case would be unknown.
There was a case in Steamboat Springs, CO of a David Engle. He was killed indirectly by authorities there who let him live in a dwelling with only one exit, the windows were too small. The authorities had to have known this. There was a fire, the neighbor’s kids alerted him, but he couldn’t get in because the fire was right in front of the door and there wasn’t a second option to even try. It was just as much of a violation of established protocol as this and just as likely to happen to someone else. But there was never a wrongful death lawsuit so there were no explanations to be had. The city council was alerted not to talk to the press, not to make themselves “targets”.
Years ago there was supposed to be a HUD program to increase local government “capacity”, make them more professional more systematic. I was supposed to work there but ended up deciding I wanted to do something else. Now everytime I read about something like this I think that maybe I could have somehow prevented it if I had taken that other job (in 1978).
Show us.
The video.
Roadside Rambo.
Stamford,
These guys are way ahead of Barney because he only had one bullet and it was in his shirt pocket!
Buddha,
The longer we wait to hear or see the video, the greater the chance that the police have “lost” it!
Unfortunately in this case:
If this occurred in August 2009 this “MAY” be the video.
Many similarities. But police version vastly different.
Correction:
This is a news video, and MAY be of the incident.
NOT the dash cam video referred to above.
But, listen to the police version of events.
rafflaw,
“These guys are way ahead of Barney because he only had one bullet and it was in his shirt pocket!”
Okay, I’ll give you that but I won’t say they’re too far ahead of Deputy Fife
Stamford,
If you are talking intelligence, you are correct.
rafflaw,
“If you are talking intelligence, you are correct.”
Bingo, counselor
What happened to the old days when the police just roughed you up??
I guess a bullet says, “Don’t do it again!” a lot better.
Sorry to tell you, this is not unusual for the Salt Lake City police. They have long been notorious for brutality, and for cover-ups orchestrated by the “Mormon mafia” that runs the city.
Trigger happy policing–Marvin Gaye “What Going On”
Let’s try that again. . .
“Trigger happy policin’”–Marvin Gaye, What’s Goin’ On.
I know, I forgot the question mark again. Sh^^*! Y’all know what I mean. This story has my head all messed up. Parent’s worst nightmare.
When I lived in Milwaukee, to my knowledge, at least three African-American men (several of whom were doing nothing wrong)were shot to death while allegedly attempting to attack police with their cars. Surprisingly, this type of attack was peculiar to African-American men.
The only corroboration were the statements of other police officers.
Apparently, getting out of the way of an alleged moving vehicle never occurred to these officers.
Defund your local police. They have gone loco.
Or, take away their toys (guns, tasers, nightsticks).
Then we will see how brave they are.
Sounds like more Gonzo-Rambo-stupid-out-of-control cops; just what a country that’s losing its grip on civilized living needs. Show the tape and let the chips fall where they may — just let them fall. I hope there will be updates from this story.
“we don’t make decisions about questions like shooting based on consistency or precedent. We make them based on how we can best advance our interests in the city.”
It’s o.k. when people commit crimes, as long as they do it from a position of authority.