Black Lives Matter in Utah has scheduled a rally for Sunday to protest a finding that a Salt Lake City police officer was legally justified when he shot and killed a fleeing man in August.
The Justice for Patrick Harmon rally is slated to begin 4 p.m. Sunday at the Salt Lake City Public Safety Building, 475 S. 300 East.
The protest will keep pressure on Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill, who made the finding and who has “proven time and time again that he is more concerned with his relationship to the police department, than actually serving his community in a just fashion,” a Black Lives Matter news release says.
“This is murder and Black Lives Matter along with Salt Lake City will not let murders or those who justify murder go unpunished,” the release says.
Gill released a report Wednesday that said the use of deadly force was justified, and he declined to file criminal charges against the officer who fired the fatal shots. The report says Harmon was shot after he produced a knife and threatened officers who were chasing him.
Also released on Wednesday was footage from police body cameras, which protesters assert show that the shooting of the 50-year-old black man was not justified.
The Salt Lake Tribune has posted only one of the three videos that were released because of their graphic content. Gill has told The Associated Press that while one video appears to show Harmon shot from behind as he ran, a slowed-down version shows he pivoted toward officers while holding a knife.
Warning: Video contains graphic content
Harmon was shot on Aug. 13 at 1002 S. State St. The deadly encounter began about 10:20 p.m. when a patrol officer saw him ride a bike — which did not have a required rear red tail light — across all six lanes and a median of State Street, the district attorney’s report says.
The officer called for backup and and two other officers arrived. When a check of a database found warrants for Harmon, including one for aggravated assault, the officers tried to handcuff him but he ran and they followed.
As Harmon was fleeing, he threatened to stab the officers, then turned and faced his pursuers, the report says. Officer Clinton Fox — who told investigators he saw a knife with the blade exposed and believed his life and the lives of the other police were in danger — fired his weapon three times, hitting Harmon.
Harmon was given first aid by police, then taken to a hospital by ambulance, where he was pronounced dead a short time later. Investigators found a knife on the ground at the scene, the report says.
According to court records from November 2016, the most recent address for Harmon was The Road Home shelter.
About 80 demonstrators held a rally on Sept. 30 at the public safety building calling for the release of more information about the shooting, including the body camera footage. Activists with Black Lives Matter and Utah Against Police Brutality also staged a call-in on Sept. 29 at the offices of Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski and police Chief Mike Brown calling for transparency and the footage’s release.