By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
There are four Juab County Deputies who are heroes, unidentified except by badge number.
They are all four back at work, beginning Friday February 14.
The four were exonerated of any wrong doing in the shooting of suspect Jose Angel Garcia-Juaregui, 27, during a gun battle begun by the suspect. Garcia-Juaregui died the next day as a result.
Juab County Attorney Jared Eldridge and Juab County Sheriff Alden Orme called a press conference on Friday, Valentine's Day, at 11 a.m. in the Juab County Commission Chambers at the county building to review the actions of the officers and to announce that they had been found guiltless.
"As the Juab County Attorney, I have a legal duty to conduct an inquiry and determine whether an officer's use of deadly force was lawful," Eldridge said.
The shooting incident took place in Juab County on January 30, 2014 and involved four deputies from the Juab County Sheriff's office. Following the use of deadly force and according to policy, all four deputies were placed on paid administrative leave pending Eldridge's review.
"As I have watched the dash cam video, it's hair-raising," said Eldridge.
From facts reviewed in the investigation and according to applicable law, said Eldridge, "it is unequivocally clear to me that each of the four deputies, 1-0-3, 1-0-7, 1-0-11 and 1-0-40 were justified in their use of deadly force in this situation."
"It doesn't appear from the facts that this case was going to end any other way," he said.
Garcia-Juaregui is accused of shooting and killing Utah County Sheriff's Sgt. Cory Wride in Eagle Mountain and injuring Utah County Sheriff's Deputy Greg Sherwood in a second shooting incident the same day before then taking 1-15 south into Juab County.
As a 17-year old female drove, Garcia-Juaregui fired at least 10 times, sometimes at motorists, at four different locations during the 50-mile chase from Utah County into Juab County. At least six of those shots were fired inside Juab County. Two shots were fired at a UHP trooper, four or five shots were fired at motorists and two to three shots were fired at deputies.
A timeline of the events in Juab County was presented at the press conference and showed that the incident took place over just 15 minutes from the time Utah Highway Patrol spotted the suspects in Juab County to the time Garcia-Juaregui was taken into custody.
"The male suspect in this incident clearly demonstrated by his actions a complete and utter disregard for the value of human life and a willingness to harm both law enforcement officers and members of the general public," Eldridge said.
"You couldn't create a more stressful situation," Orme said.
While Eldridge refused to identify the deputies, he and Orme did release 911 calls, police radio recordings and dash-cam video from the deputies' vehicles. A power point presentation was also made during the press conference. Media files are available for those who are interested in viewing them at http://www.juabsheriff.org/press-release.html.
The videos before the final shootout show deputies pursuing Garcia-Juaregui and the teenage driver through a heavy snowstorm south on I-15.
Garcia-Juaregui, just prior to turning on officers, was running toward a vehicle he had rammed with a vehicle carjacked in Nephi (from a mother who frantically struggled to remove her child) just minutes before in order to attempt to carjack the second vehicle.
Officers daringly waved away the motorist in the rammed vehicle, who had pulled over at roadside. The suspect then turned to engage deputies in gunfire. Because of the terrain at the location, the one side of the freeway is higher than the other. Garcia-Juaregui was on a downhill section of the freeway and officers could only see the upper portion of his body.
The deputies were armed with three AR-15 rifles and a shotgun. One of the seven rounds fired by deputies struck Garcia-Juaregui in the head. Eldridge said the medical examiner's report revealed that the bullet did not penetrate the skull but did cause brain swelling. The cause of death was listed as blunt force trauma from the bullet's impact.
Just 90 seconds passed from the time Garcia-Juaregui cashed into the vehicle on the freeway until he was taken into custody.
"As the deputies placed the male suspect into custody, he had a hand gun clutched tightly in his hand and deputies had to pry the gun from the suspect's hand," Eldridge said. "The suspect also struggled with deputies attempting to access his waistband. After the deputies secured the suspect, they noticed the suspect had an empty magazine in his waistband."
In the review of the incident, Eldridge said he was assisted by the State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) who conducted an independent review as required by policy.
"SBI has now concluded their independent investigation of the January 30 incident," he said.
On February 13, Eldridge said he met with investigators from SBI and reviewed with them the results of their investigation in great detail.
As part of their investigation, SBI investigators interviewed witnesses, collected and analyzed multiple pieces of evidence, examined dash cam video from law enforcement vehicles, reviewed maps and photos and created models and diagrams describing both the events leading up to the use of deadly force and the area where the use of deadly force took place.
"Based on my review of this incident the deputies acted lawfully and their actions undoubtedly resulted in the protection of the deputies themselves and the public at large. I recommend all four deputies should be removed from paid administrative leave and returned to active full service on behalf of the citizens of Juab County and the State of Utah."
"These men (Juab County Deputies) did not hesitate even for an instant. They got out of their vehicles, they charged right into the face of danger. This man was pointing a gun at them and shooting, without even hesitation," Eldridge said. "They did exactly what we would hope officers would do in this situation. They demonstrated extraordinary valor and courage. I take my hat off to them. As I watch these videos, all I can say is that I'm awestruck at the courage they showed."
He said that, in his mind, the deputies exercised great restraint and none took the taking of human life lightly.
"They were very careful about passing traffic. They only took shots when they had clear shots. And they took the number of shots that were necessary. They weren't overboard. They were very professional," he said.
"You can see from the dash-cam footage there was no hesitation," said Juab County Sheriff Alden B. Orme, who visibly choked up as he talked of his deputies. "They knew they had to take the steps they needed to take to prevent further injury to anyone. It is such a dynamic situation with citizens' lives at risk."
"Heavy traffic, heavy snowstorm. They know the risks. They know that there's shots fired. And every one of them advanced and did what they needed to to bring an end to the situation."
"Every officer that was involved, every highway patrolman, every Nephi city officer, every deputy acted above and beyond the call of duty," Orme said. "It was extraordinary the efforts everyone gave on this day. It was chaotic but they kept a very calm and professional demeanor. Everyone did exactly as we would hope they would."
