An up-close view of the remains of the burned police car near 400 S. and 200 E. Photo: Jacob Klopfenstein, KSL.com, via Twitter
Salt Lake City’s police chief says people who damaged property and assaulted officers and others on Saturday will be investigated.
“Make no mistake. We are going to follow up on all these assaults,” Chief Mike Brown told KSL’s Dave and Dujanovic Show Monday morning.
“In this age of cameras, believe me everybody has cameras. We started pouring through those videos and identifying these people. Believe me, we will come calling.”
Chief Brown said it was hard to see the police car flipped over and burned, and things thrown at officers. One was hit in the head with a baseball bat. 21 officers were treated for injuries from Saturday night.
He was asked whether SLCPD was caught off guard. He says they were not caught off guard — they had a plan and strategy — but they were surprised. He said they have to be careful when inserting officers into a situation like that, because they are human lives as well and could become the target.
“We’ve always hoped for the best, we plan for the worst. But when you are dealing with a protest; I wish there was a schedule and a playbook that we could all follow, but that doesn’t occur,” he said.
Chief Brown also said officers from many agencies there that night were restrained and careful.
Brown and other officials promised to also thoroughly investigate any accusations of wrongdoing by police, including a man seen being pushed to the ground by an officer.