COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS — As Zane James lay face down on a grassy front yard in a residential neighborhood, an officer checking either his waistband or front jacket pocket found what appeared to be a gun.
The 19-year-old who once hoped for a professional hockey career had just been shot twice while fleeing from Cottonwood Heights police.
James, who died two days later, had been shot twice from behind and his weapon was still tucked away, according to police video.
Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill will now decide whether the officer's use of deadly force was legally justified.
Cottonwood Heights police released body camera footage last week from an officer who arrived at the scene shortly after James was shot. The officer who fired the shots had been on his way to work to begin his shift when he spotted James' fleeing dirt bike. The officer had not yet picked up his body camera.
James was suspected of committing two armed robberies in the Sandy area that morning, May 29, including one just prior to the shooting.
One of the questions Gill will try to answer is what was happening just before the shooting. The video shows James shot twice from behind, once in the shoulder and once near his knee. His weapon is still tucked away as officers search him.
But Gill said the body camera video is just one piece of information. A decision can't be made on the video alone because there is no context for it. In order to determine whether the shooting was justified, Gill said he needs to look at the totality of everything that was happening.
Attorney Lindsay Jarvis, whose office has represented and investigated hundreds of officer-involved critical incidents — Jarvis herself has represented several officers facing criminal charges following an officer-involved shooting — said the district attorney needs to focus on what was happening at the time the officer pulled the trigger and not when the bullets struck James — or approximately 1.5 seconds before James was hit.
Jarvis says the timetables for action and reaction are key.
There have been 10 officer-involved shootings in Salt Lake County so far this year, including the latest on Sunday. Gill's office still has eight of those shootings to review, with a ninth to come following Sunday's incident. At this time last year, the county had six officer-involved critical incidents and just one left to review.
A good kid
By all accounts from friends and those who knew him, Zane James was a fun, energetic boy with a promising hockey career.
"The short time I knew him, he was the sweetest most respectful person," one woman wrote on his memorial page.
He played for Brighton High School's hockey team. James "spent the majority of his senior year of high school in Seattle, Washington, playing Juniors hockey pursuing his dream of becoming a professional player," according to his obituary. "This is where he suffered a double traumatic brain injury that ended his dreams and ultimately his passion for life."
One of James' former coaches, Darryl Olsen, posted on Facebook that the concussions James suffered ultimately changed him.
"He was a good kid from a loving family, a smart kid, a hockey player and brother to many, a kid who loved and adored his baby sister, a kid who might have had a little mischief in him like any other kid but who loved to laugh and cared about others. I worked with Zane for many years, I have many memories coaching and traveling with Zane. His laughter, his happy personality, his love for hockey and for his teammates are strong and happy memories," Olsen wrote.
"I'm not a doctor but I can tell you that those concussions changed his personality and suddenly having hockey ripped away from him rocked his world."
After the injuries that ended his hockey career, James found himself battling drug addiction.
"I've been in contact with Zane and his family over the last year and a half or so as he has made some poor choices and battled with addiction. He made some good choices and was successful in rehab and was turning his life around for the better when he recently gave into his addiction again, ending in the most tragic of circumstances," the coach wrote.
"He had the support of family, he had friends in his life that tried to help but the addiction was stronger. It was the addiction that drove him to make the choices that led to a hard road and a tragic ending, not the Zane James so many of us had the opportunity to know and love."
In 2017, James was arrested in connection with a series of five armed robberies in Cottonwood Heights, including robberies at GameStop, Subway and World Market. But due to "evidence issues," two counts of aggravated robbery that were filed for the incidents at Subway and GameStop were dismissed in September, according to court records.
In February, James was charged with possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person, DUI and drug possession. A warrant was issued for his arrest on May 25 when he failed to show up for a court date.
In March of 2017, James pleaded guilty to drug possession. Several letters submitted to the court as recently as April indicated he was doing well in treatment. But on May 25, a second no-bail warrant was issued for his arrest in that case after he failed to show up for another court appearance.
Court records indicate neither James' attorney nor his parents had heard from him.
Analyzing the video
On May 29, police believe James robbed a Smith's Food and Drug, 2039 E. 9400 South, at gunpoint about 3:15 a.m., and then a Macey's grocery store, 7850 S. 1300 East, just as it opened at 6 a.m.
In both cases, a man with the same description riding a motorcycle was involved.
About 10 minutes after the Macey's robbery, a Cottonwood Heights police officer headed to work spotted the motorcycle. A short pursuit ended in a residential area near 6675 S. 2200 East.
Cottonwood Heights police confirmed that James had crashed on his motorcycle.
In the body camera video, an officer — presumably the one who shot James — can be heard saying, "He kept reaching with his left hand up in that front area." He later is heard saying, "He fled from me two days ago. The money came out as he was reachin' there."
Jarvis said money found on the ground would be consistent with a person trying to reach in their pocket for something. And because he was a suspect in two armed robberies, police were already on heightened alert, knowing he was potentially armed, she said.
What is unknown is whether there were any verbal exchanges between James and the officer prior to the shooting, or if James turned to look back at the officer. It's those types of movements that officers are watching for, Jarvis said. If a suspect ignores commands to stop, appears to be reaching for something in his pocket or waistband, and starts to make a movement as if he's turning, she said the officer is justified to shoot.
"He can't wait for (the suspect) to turn around and fire," she said.
"How many shots you fire?" an officer can be heard asking in the video.
"Three or four," the officer responds. "He wrecked out. Came running at (audio unclear) this way."
The officers can be seen in the video applying pressure to James' wounds as well as two tourniquets on his leg.
"Hey. Stay with us," an officer tells James.
"His eyes are open. He's breathing," another officer tells the group.
At the end of the 11-minute video, James is loaded onto a stretcher by paramedics and taken to a local hospital.
As the district attorney's office now reviews the shooting, friends and family members say they want to remember their loved one as the bright, funny and caring kid with the promising hockey career before addiction took over.
"While we miss him dearly and are devastated by our own personal loss, we know he is in a better place," his family wrote in his obituary.
"I truly just want everyone to remember the good times. The last couple years of his life have been truly complicated to say the least. He has made mistakes as we all have. Please just remember the good," James' older brother, Gabe, posted on Facebook.
"My heart is heavy as I think of what was once such a wonderful young man, that's who I will remember … always," Olsen wrote.