The
event on Aug. 2, 2020 was in remembrance of Zane James, who was shot and killed by Cottonwood Heights police in 2018.
Darlene McDonald, an activist and member of Salt Lake City’s Racial Equity in Policing Commission, was at the demonstration where police used tasers and pepper spray after some protesters became aggressive. McDonald said, in her view, the videos presented by the Attorney General’s office were taken out of context.
“It felt like I was watching a propaganda piece,” McDonald said. “The clips that they showed fit a narrative that they wanted to portray … one that was very positive for the police officers involved.”
The Utah Attorney General s office on Tuesday is expected to present its review of how Cottonwood Heights police handled an August 2020 demonstration that erupted in clashes between officers and protesters.
KSL TV
COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS Investigators combed through more than 40 hours of video and 500 pages of police reports, listened to distraught 911 calls and questioned one officer and witness after the next.
They arrived at one main conclusion: law enforcers in a sleepy Utah suburb were simply doing their job last summer when they arrived at protest against police brutality and commanded demonstrators to clear out of the road, leading to confrontations that ended in violent, sometimes bloody clashes. Use of force never looks good, even in the most clearly justified circumstances, Utah special agent Matthew Thompson told Cottonwood Heights city leaders in a presentation via videoconference Tuesday. This case is no exception.
KSL TV
COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS Investigators combed through more than 40 hours of video and 500 pages of police reports, listened to distraught 911 calls and questioned one officer and witness after the next.
They arrived at one main conclusion: law enforcers in a sleepy Utah suburb were simply doing their job last summer when they arrived at protest against police brutality and commanded demonstrators to clear out of the road, leading to confrontations that ended in violent, sometimes bloody clashes. Use of force never looks good, even in the most clearly justified circumstances, Utah special agent Matthew Thompson told Cottonwood Heights city leaders in a presentation via videoconference Tuesday. This case is no exception.
Police response to Cottonwood Heights protest was appropriate, attorney generalâs office finds
Demonstrators have denounced officersâ actions as violent and unnecessary, while police have accused protesters of being ârioters.â
(Rick Bowmer | AP file photo) Gabe Pecoraro is led away after being taken into custody by Cottonwood Heights police officers during a march Sunday, Aug. 2, 2020, in Cottonwood Heights. The protest was a March for Justice focused largely around Pecoraro s brother Zane James, who was fatally shot by police in Cottonwood Heights in 2018. | Updated: May 12, 2021, 2:39 a.m.
The Utah Attorney Generalâs Office found Tuesday that Cottonwood Heights officers who made multiple arrests â some filmed using physical and chemical force â during a 2020 protest against police violence were âmeasured and appropriateâ in their response.