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WOODS CROSS — Former Woods Cross police officer Joshua John Lindsey told emergency dispatchers he was checking out a suspicious vehicle.
But body camera video shows that just 10 seconds after stepping out of his patrol car, Lindsey shot at a pickup truck as the driver was going in reverse, trying to get away from the officer.
Lindsey, 39, of Kaysville — who was fired from the department — was charged Sept. 14 in 2nd District Court with two counts of aggravated assault, a third-degree felony.
Woods Cross police released Lindsey's body camera video from that incident Monday under an open records request.
The video is only 47 seconds. It starts with Lindsey pulling up to Manheim Utah, a car lot at 1650 W. 500 South in Woods Cross. Lindsey tells a dispatcher that he'll be out on a "10-47," which is the Utah police code for suspicious vehicle. Neither the accompanying police report nor charging documents indicate what the officer believed was suspicious about the vehicle.
Immediately after getting out of his patrol car, Lindsey began yelling, "Stop!" at the pickup truck that was facing the officer with its headlights on and not moving.
"Stop. Stop right there or I'll shoot you," the officer yells in the video.
The driver then puts the pickup truck in reverse in an apparent attempt to get away from the officer. In the video, Lindsey fires three rounds at the moving truck and starts to run after it. A fourth shot was fired as the driver was able to turn the truck around and drive forward out of the lot. The truck never appears in the video to drive toward the officer.
According to a Woods Cross police report of the incident, Lindsey felt "that his life was in imminent danger" when he fired the shots.
"Fortunately for all concerned, (Lindsey's) shots hit the vehicle and missed the victims inside," the charging documents filed against Lindsey state.
Following an internal affairs investigation, Woods Cross Police Chief Chad Soffe determined Lindsey actions were in violation of the department's policy on the use of deadly force. Specifically, officers are restricted from shooting at a moving vehicle.
Lindsey, who had been with the department for just over a year, was fired on July 16.
The two men in the truck, Julian Nordahl, 26, and Tucker Riggs, 28, were arrested following a chase with police. Only Nordahl was charged. He was charged with two counts of theft by receiving stolen property, a second-degree felony. On Aug. 17, Nordahl pleaded guilty to a reduced count of attempted theft by deception, a third-degree felony. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 5.
