Prosecutors have decided that a Unified police officer was legally justified to shoot and kill a mentally ill and apparently intoxicated Riverton man who was threatening to harm his mother. Though the officer involved declined to participate in the investigation.
Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill released his decision in a written statement Friday. He wrote that even without Officer Darrell Broadhead’s statement, other evidence investigators collected indicated that Broadhead shot Jason Robert Whittle because the officer believed he needed to shoot him to prevent the death or serious injury of Whittle’s mother, meaning it’s justified under Utah law.