Salt Lake County prosecutors won’t charge the West Valley City officer who shot and killed a Taylorsville veteran outside the veteran’s home last year, but District Attorney Sim Gill said at a Thursday news conference that the man’s death is emblematic of the larger mental health crisis facing veterans.
The man, 34-year-old Joseph Potts, was drunk and suicidal on Oct. 5 when officers responded to his home, near 3850 W. Ridgecrest Dr. His wife had called police around 10:15 p.m. after she wrestled a gun away from him and escaped next door with their infant child.
An hours-long standoff followed. Potts remained inside the home, intermittently firing shots, as police and a SWAT team gathered outside. Three officers, including Detective Tyler Thompson armed with a sniper rifle, got into position on a neighbor’s roof.
On the rooftop, the officers kept an eye on Potts and began scheming to remove Potts’ family from the house next door, fearing, Gill said, that Potts might make a break for that house and harm them.
Then, before police could remove the wife and child, officers saw a flashing light near the door to Potts’ home and worried he may be using an infrared light source to see in the dark. Shortly after this, around 12:22 a.m., Potts exited the home wearing a ballistic plate carrier and carrying an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle.
‘He’s aiming at us’
Drone footage shown at the Thursday news conference showed Potts walking down his driveway and lying down on his stomach next to a car, his rifle pointed in the direction of officers on the roof next door.
“Don’t let him exit the property line,“ Thompson said, according to body camera footage. Thompson then said he saw Potts drop an infrared chem light — like a glow stick — on the ground.
“That’s an IR (infrared) chem light,” Thompson told two officers on the roof with him. “And mags.”
A beat later, Thompson said calmly, “He’s aiming at us,” and fired four sniper rounds, killing Potts. Police found the man’s body covered in blood in a prone position on the ground — his finger inside the rifle’s trigger guard.
Investigators found no infrared devices, and believe the lights Thompson saw were from two cellphones located at the scene.
Veterans need more support, Gill says
It’s not clear if Potts could actually see the officers, Gill said, but it is clear that the police believed Potts had the ability to see them. That, plus officers knowing Potts was a veteran, was heavily armed, had already fired multiple rounds and was wearing body armor, led investigators to determine that Thompson’s use of deadly force was reasonable and legally justified.
Thompson declined to be interviewed by prosecutors. West Valley City police did not immediately return a request for comment about the determination Thursday afternoon.
Gill said he spoke with Potts’s family before Thursday’s news conference. He said while they understood why officers fired, and have family in law enforcement themselves, they are still hurt by the loss. Potts, the family told Gill, had post-traumatic stress disorder.
“They wanted to make sure that everybody understood that this was not typical of who their husband and family member is,” Gill said.
When asked if officers could have responded differently, given the man’s mental health and veteran status, Gill responded that it’s a law enforcement responsibility to make protocols and procedures for dealing with someone experiencing a mental health crisis. He added that it’s possible that Potts had decided to goad officers into shooting him, and that a different sort of police response may not have changed the outcome.
“But I don’t want to simply leave it at that, right?,” he said. Veterans need help “further upstream” before the problems are large enough “downstream” that police are called, Gill continued.
(Chris Samuels | The Salt Lake Tribune) Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill presents findings from two separate police shootings in 2023, including the fatal shooting of Taylorsville veteran Joseph Potts, at the district attorney’s office in Salt Lake City, Thursday, May 23, 2024.
Earlier this month, Gill made a similar plea when announcing his decision in another police shooting involving 35-year-old veteran Alex Boren, who was shot by police March 17, 2023. In that case, Boren was suicidal, survived his injuries and has since gotten help, Gill said Thursday.
Gill’s office on Thursday also released a determination in the Sept. 13, 2023, police shooting of Kelsey Robinson. In that case, Murray officer Bryan Talbot shot Robinson as Robinson attempted to escape in a stolen car, sweeping Talbot up in an open car door and slamming him into the vehicle, leaving Talbot concussed.
Talbot fired four times, striking Robinson in the arm. Robinson fled and was later arrested in Colorado. He has since pleaded guilty to assault on a police officer and was sentenced in April to 1 to 15 years in the Utah State Prison.
Gill determined Talbot’s use of force was justified.
Editor’s note • If you or people you know are at risk of self-harm, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline for 24-hour support.
The Veterans Crisis Line can also connect any veteran or their loved ones 24/7 with a person specially trained to support veterans. It is free and confidential. Call 988, and press 1; text 838255; or chat online. Veterans with a hearing impairment may call 800-799-4889.
Veterans experiencing crisis may also go to any VA or non-VA health care facility for emergent suicidal care at no cost under the Comprehensive Prevention, Access to Care, and Treatment (COMPACT) Act, which went into effect last year.
