Graphic Video Shows Utah Police Fatally Shooting Cyclist As He Fled

Utah Police bodycam video showing the fatal shooting of a cyclist who was running away from officers was released Thursday. The new footage, released by the Salt Lake City District Attorney’s office, sparked outrage among people accusing law enforcement of racial profiling and a “brutal execution.”

A Salt Lake City police officer, identified as Officer Kris Smith, pulled over 50-year-old Patrick Harmon after watching him ride his bicycle across all six lanes and the median of State Street the night of Aug. 13, local media reported. Harmon’s bike was missing its required red tail light, documents from the DA’s office stated. When police tried to arrest him, Harmon attempted to flee the scene.

While one video appears to show Harmon shot from behind as he ran from police, a slowed-down version shows he pivoted toward officers with a knife, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said Friday.

Officer Clinton Fox told investigators that Harmon threatened to stab him before he fired the fatal shots. Body camera video shows Fox shot Harmon at close range after Fox yelled: "I'll f------- shoot you."

Outrage sparked over Harmon's death after prosecutors in Salt Lake City said officers were justified in killing the 50-year-old. The officers involved in the incident will not face charges.

“They just murdered him flat out,” Alisha Shaw, Harmon’s niece, told the Guardian on Thursday after watching the footage. “They are lying. There is no way they were threatened by anything. He was only trying to get away.”

Civil rights activists protesters saying that the killing of Harmon was the latest example of police brutality and a prejudiced criminal justice system in the US, where officers kill black men at disproportionately high rates.

Lex Scott, an organizer with Black Lives Matter in Utah, said the community is livid over the footage and wants the district attorney to resign. The Harmon family, which lives in Colorado and St. Louis, is "shell-shocked," Scott said.

"You can't watch that video and not realize it is a clear case of murder," Scott said. "It is one of the clearest cases of murder we've ever seen."

Salt Lake officials have claimed that the killing of Harmon was legal and justified as the officers feared for their lives. But the video, released to local media, revealed that Harmon was not advancing toward them.

The district attorney’s office claimed that Harmon said “I’ll cut you” and turned and faced officers with a knife as he was running. This also could not be seen in the video released to local media.

“He was scared. All he did was run,” Adriane Harmon, another niece, said Thursday. “It hurts … They said ‘I’m going to kill you’ and they shot him three times. He’s just moaning on the ground.”

Police chief Mike Brown, said in a statement: “We trust the process and support the decision from district attorney Sim Gill. I believe our officers have the training and judgment and ability to make split-second decisions in dynamic situations.”

Gill added in a statement: “Officer Fox reasonably believed deadly force was necessary to prevent death or serious bodily injury to himself and/or others and therefore his use of deadly force was ‘justified’.”

Warning: Graphic Video