(Credit: Paul Nelson)
DAVIS COUNTY – The Woods Cross Police Department is standing behind an officer accused of drawing his weapon on a ten-year-old child in West Bountiful. They’re contradicting some of the statements the boy’s mother made about what happened last week.
The first thing Woods Cross Police Chief Chad Soffe did during Monday’s press conference was apologize to the family approached by the officer.
“First, we’d like to sincerely apologize to DJ (Hrubes) and his mother for what happened, and any other family members who may have been traumatized by this event,” Soffe says.
That said, Soffe still maintains Office Mike Daughtery followed protocol when he took his weapon out of his holster. Police had been told to look for two possibly armed African American men, and Daughtery reportedly drew his weapon after seeing DJ moving in the front yard. Soffe also says when Daughtery moved closer to DJ, he realized the boy was not the suspect they were looking for.
“We believe the total time of this encounter was very short, far less than one minute,” he adds.
The department refutes the claims that the gun was pointed at DJ’s head. Soffe says they train officers to never point their weapons at anyone’s head. Plus, the boy’s mother claimed they were never given any explanation about what happened after Daughtery put his gun back in the hoslter. Soffe says Daughter actually did explain who they were looking for.
“At that time, this young man’s mother comes out and is yelling, ‘That is my ten-year-old son.’ Our officer tells both the young man and his mother that we were looking for two armed suspects, and that they need to go into their home,” according to Soffe.
The case will be handed over to the Davis County Attorney’s Office for a review, but, Soffe says since the gun wasn’t fired, a full investigation isn’t warranted. This is disappointing to officials with the NAACP.
“I think an investigation would take it a bit further,” says Jeanetta Williams, President of the Utah branch of the NAACP.
Williams is still concerned that Daughtery’s body camera wasn’t activated.
She says, “We wouldn’t have to second guess what happened. We would have the footage of the body camera that we could take a look at to exactly see what happened, if the gun was pulled or not pulled… where it was pointed or not pointed.”