Salt Lake City: Five officers repeatedly shouted "Gun!" In body camera footage released by a suburban Utah Police Department on Wednesday. The family of the deceased called the incident a "brutal murder" in the lead up to the release of the footage.
Chase Allen, 25, refused to give officers his driver's license and disobeyed most of their orders, which led to the March 1 shooting.
Instead, he gave a long list of anti-government opinions in his response, which cast doubt on his authority to draw them. An officer first pulled him over for what police later described as an "illegal license plate".
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During a news conference on Wednesday, Farmington Police Chief Eric Johnson informed the media that the officers fired their weapons after Allen reached for something they thought might be a holster or a gun.
The body camera's view of Allen's hip holster is obscured by the car door and one officer bends down to hold him down as another shouts that there is a gun, and he acknowledges what happens moments before the shooting. , the video is not clear about this. For several seconds, the officers are seen firing several rounds into Allen's car before one of them orders the others to stop.
The names of the five officers are not in the footage that was made public. The first officer's vehicle can be seen following Allen, a 25-year-old former college football player, into the post office parking lot at the beginning of the video. The policeman approaches Alan's blue BMW and inquires about its registration as there appears to be a strange license plate.
Allen replies, "I don't need registration, and I don't answer questions," to which the officer calls for assistance and informs Allen that he is being detained.
"The direction of this encounter is 100 percent in your hands," the officer says as he and Allen argue about the law, with Allen claiming he is not giving the officer authority to detain him.
The video shows Allen being offered a passport after refusing to show his identification or registration and arguing with the officer about whether the law requires him to do so. Shortly afterwards, Allen refused to exit his vehicle when asked.
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Later, a second officer threatens to break Allen's window and remove him from the vehicle. Allen can be seen alternating between holding the phone from one hand to the other, while apparently recording the conversation on his cellphone.
Police compilation video that was edited and played during Wednesday's news conference then pauses and focuses on the movement of Allen's hand, which releases the hand that is closest to the hip holster hidden under his jacket . At this point, there is no firearm visible in the holster or anywhere in the video.
The officer then asks Allen to exit the car once again. Allen can be seen moving as the door opens, but it is unclear whether he is attempting to remove his seatbelt or reach for a holster.
After a brief delay, the officer called "Gun!" Back-up officers position themselves to flank the rear and passenger side of the car and begin firing. After several seconds of shooting, an officer orders all shooting to cease. None of the officers said that Allen fired back.
Later, Farmington police published photographs showing a handgun discovered on the floorboard of the car. An edited clip of the video released Wednesday shows a handgun on the floor and an empty holster on Allen's hip.
A week after the shooting, the footage was made public in response to harsh criticisms from the Allen family of Farmington police, who claim the officers were "stonewalling" rather than answering questions about the murder.
Both the initial officer's decision to request backup, which the police chief claimed was routine, and the amount of rounds fired have been questioned by the family.
Allen's non-conformist speech in the video also follows rumors about the family's involvement in the so-called Sovereign Citizens movement, which were sparked by placards seen on their car and audio of earlier incidents in a nearby courthouse .
A flag sticker with the words "Utah, American" and the stars and stripes can be seen on the vehicle in local media photos taken after the incident.
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The Universal Citizens movement promotes an anti-government viewpoint on a variety of topics, such as whether the government has the right to levy taxes or mandate license plates. It has a small fan base, especially in Western states where there is a long history of skepticism of government authority.