Parents of black Utah man shot by police sue officers, city

[January 03, 2015]  By Peg McEntee
 
 SALT LAKE CITY (Reuters) - The parents of a 22-year-old black man who was shot and killed by police in Utah while holding a sword sued the officers and city in federal court on Friday, claiming that his civil rights were violated.

The fatal shooting of Darrien Hunt in Sarasota Springs in September raised tensions in the mostly white, fast-growing community some 30 miles south of Salt Lake City. It came a month after a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, shot unarmed black teenager Michael Brown to death, leading to a wave of violent protests.

Hunt was shot six times after two white Sarasota Springs police officers, Nicholas Judson and Matt Schauerhamer, responded to reports that a man was walking around with a samurai-style sword. The officers say Hunt lunged at them with the sword.

In their lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City, Hunt's parents say he did not threaten the officers and removed the sword from its sheath at their request. The lawsuit contends that neither officer warned Hunt before he was shot and that he was struck by six bullets.

“When defendant Schauerhamer fired the final three shots, Darrien was physically incapable of wielding a sword or running, and posed no threat of imminent danger to anyone,” the lawsuit says.

Saratoga Springs Police spokesman Owen Jackson declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Utah County Attorney Jeff Buhman ruled that the officers were justified in using deadly force against Hunt because they thought he would harm them or others.

That decision, as well as the shooting itself, has led to several protests in Utah and has become a part of discussions about police use of force around the nation, including Ferguson.

The suit seeks an unspecified amount of money for the Hunts, and demands that the shooting be deemed unconstitutional and that Saratoga Springs equip its officers with body cameras.

Hunt's mother, Susan Hunt, was charged in November with four misdemeanor counts that she accosted Saratoga Springs police on Oct. 19 as they were making an unrelated traffic stop. She is scheduled for arraignment on Jan. 23.

Predominantly white Saratoga Springs is home to Mia Love, a former mayor who last year became the first black Republican woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

(Reporting by Peg McEntee in Salt Lake City; Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Mohammad Zargham)

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