Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
- Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill determined three officers were legally justified in shooting and killing Joshua Watson.
- Watson led police on a slow-speed chase, held a gun to his head, and pointed it at officers in March.
- Officers fired 15 rounds, killing the Riverton man.
RIVERTON — Three officers were legally justified in shooting and killing a Riverton man holding a gun following a slow-speed chase across the Salt Lake Valley, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill announced Friday.
On March 8, Sandy police started following Joshua Mel-Scott Watson, 40, in connection with a series of vehicle burglaries. In what police described as a "low-speed pursuit," officers followed Watson, who was driving a Chevrolet Tahoe, through Sandy, Herriman and Riverton. After identifying Watson and while still following him, Riverton police informed other agencies pursuing Watson that three stolen vehicles were recovered from his property a week earlier, according to Gill's report. Police then sent several Riverton units to Watson's street in case he decided to go there.
About 45 minutes after first spotting the Tahoe, officers from Sandy, Herriman and Riverton were able to successfully spike two of the vehicle's tires on Redwood Road north of Camp Williams. A third tire was spiked minutes later near 14600 S. Redwood.
Watson continued driving toward his home near 13800 South and 2105 West. In body camera and dashboard camera video shown Friday during a press conference to announce the outcome of the investigation, Watson is seen rounding a corner toward his home and coming face-to-face with police waiting for him by blocking the road. He manages to get around the blockade, and an officer is heard on the police radio saying he attempted to ram the police vehicles. In the video, however, the Tahoe appears to simply drive around the vehicles.
Watson then continued to drive a short distance and onto the dirt front yard of his mobile home.
As the first officer got out of his vehicle and approached the Tahoe, he saw that Watson was holding a gun to his head, the report states. The officer immediately yelled several times, "He's got a gun. He's got a gun to his head!"
"Mr. Watson continued to hold the gun to his head while moving erratically," before pointing the gun at officers, the report states. Sandy police officer Sean Ten Eyck, Riverton police officer Damien Olson and Herriman police officer Jennifer Fairbanks all responded by firing their weapons. Two of the officers who arrived after the first officer fired their weapons just a few seconds after exiting their patrol cars.
The three officers fired a total of 15 rounds, killing Watson, Gill said. An autopsy determined that Watson was shot or grazed by gunshots six times. A "Glock 17 replica BB gun" was recovered from Watson's vehicle.
Gill said Friday that whether Watson attempted to "ram" the vehicles in the police blockade was not relevant to his decision. Although the three officers who shot Watson declined to be interviewed for the district attorney's report, Gill said there was enough video evidence to show the officers could have easily perceived the imminent threat of injury or death.
"It happens rather quickly," he said. "But I can't overrule the fact they perceive the weapon, the threat of the weapon; they're yelling commands consistent with that. And then they're seeing the movement of the hands. ... They certainly see the movement of the hands. They see the left hand come up and you see the right hand drop. And from where Olson is, it is not inconsistent with (the gun) being pointed in his direction."
Watson was well-known to Riverton police due to his criminal history. Court records show Watson had been charged numerous times in burglary, theft and assault cases. His most recent felony convictions were in 2017 when he was convicted of attempted theft twice and fleeing from police in three separate cases. He was sentenced to a term of zero to five years in the Utah State Prison, according to court records.
