Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
- Salt Lake police released body camera footage Monday of a freeway shootout.
- Ramon Rojas-Huerta faces multiple charges, including assault on officers.
- Salt Lake County district attorney will decide if police actions during the standoff were legally justified.
SALT LAKE CITY — Body camera videos were released Monday from an intense standoff between police and a man who shot at them while driving.
"Shots fired at me," an officer exclaims in one video while pulling his rifle onto the steering wheel as he drives, "No, I'm not hit," the officer informs the others.
Monday, the Salt Lake City Police Department released body camera videos from five officers involved in the freeway shootout.
Ramon Rojas-Huerta, 44, of West Valley City, was charged July 7 in 3rd District Court with five counts of assault on an officer, a second-degree felony; causing property damage/destruction, two counts of aggravated assault, 12 counts of illegal shooting of a gun, failing to stop for an officer and unlawful control of a vehicle to commit a felony crime, all third-degree felonies; DUI, a class A misdemeanor; and causing property damage and reckless driving, class B misdemeanors.
On June 29, Rojas-Huerta fired multiple rounds at a tow truck driver near Redwood Road and North Temple as he tried to tow his vehicle, according to charging documents.
Shortly after, the tow truck driver followed Rojas-Huerta to the area of 4025 W. 1820 South until he pulled off into a gas station.
"While putting air in his truck's tire, (the driver) observed the suspect drive by and fire two more gunshots at him," the charges allege.
Police responding to the scene spotted Rojas-Huerta. In body camera videos released Monday, multiple officers are seen following his vehicle and then pulling out rifles from the trunks of their vehicles and propping them up on their steering wheels as they continued to pursue him.
"A slow-speed pursuit continued onto eastbound I-80, with more shots exchanged near 750 South at about 11:06 p.m. according to body-worn camera footage," police said Monday.
"Salt Lake police officers pursued the suspect north on Bangerter Highway, where an exchange of gunfire, initiated by Rojas-Huerta, occurred between the suspect and the officers in the area of Bangerter Highway and California Avenue," according to the charging documents. Rojas-Huerta then tried to flee on I-80, where officers attempted to stop him using a PIT maneuver several times.
"The suspect eventually came to a stop, where one officer rammed their patrol vehicle into the back of the white van, and five officers discharged their weapons from their patrol vehicles. Two Salt Lake police vehicles were struck by gunfire during the pursuit. Seven shell cases were recovered on Bangerter," the charges state.
In body camera video, one officer's air bag is seen going off after the officer makes contact with the vehicle. After stopping, the officer runs behind his patrol car for cover with his rifle drawn.
Several officers then converge behind the car with a ballistics shield.
"I've got movement," one officer says as Rojas-Huerta comes out of his van and falls to the ground "covered in blood," as the officer notes on camera. After police placed Rojas-Huerta in handcuffs, he was taken to a local hospital in critical condition to be treated for multiple gunshot wounds.
He was later charged and booked into the Salt Lake County Jail.
"This case represents a dangerous series of events that put our community and police officers at risk," Salt Lake City Police Chief Brian Redd said in a prepared statement on Monday. "We are grateful for the response by our officers that night, and we will continue to work with the protocol team investigating this case."
The Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office will determine whether the shooting was legally justified.
