Several Utah cops are facing disciplinary action after a trainee officer was caught using a utility knife to cut a dead homeless man — as others watched on and laughed, according to authorities.
Newly released bodycam footage showed the officers using the knife on Jason Lloyd, 47, after he was found dead who in a tent in August, the Salt Lake City Police Department announced Friday.
The video shows a trainee officer on only his 11th shift — identified by FOX 13 as Dakota Smigel — being given the knife “to pop multiple blisters on Mr. Lloyd’s right arm,” the department said after an investigation.
“I feel like you’re pranking me,” Smigel was heard telling the others leading him to the body. “Why are you smirking like that?” he asked — telling the others: “You guys suck.”
Despite those concerns, Smigel was seen cutting into Lloyd’s skin, while other officers could be heard laughing in the background, the gruesome footage showed. The trainee was then told by the others to leave details about the knife out of his police report, his department confirmed.
“Our investigation found that some of the conduct in this case was unprofessional, discourteous, disrespectful and offensive,” said Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown.
Seven employees were placed on administrative leave for the incident — with all but one already back at work, the department said.
The lone officer to quit, Mark Keep, resigned after being found to have violated eight department policies, according to Fox 13.
Smigel was judged to have “reasonable grounds to believe his actions were allowed and approved” because he was so new to the job and following instructions of seniors who were training him, the department said.
One of those officers, Paul Mullenax, returned to work after a three-day suspension for violating four department policies, the outlet said. Another, Michelle Peterson, received a warning for violating two department policies.
The violations included standard of conduct violations, death investigation procedure violations, and report preparation violations, police said.
“This behavior does not align with the professionalism and integrity we demand as a police department,” Chief Brown said.
“I extend my deepest condolences to Mr. Lloyd’s family. Every person we encounter deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. Our decorum during death investigations must never again fall short of our core values as it did at times in this case.”
Lloyd’s family said the newly released footage and feel like they are “grieving all over again.”
“When Jason passed away, we weren’t able to have an open casket, we weren’t able to have that closure that you usually get when a loved one passes,” Lloyd’s sister, Heather Fisher, told The Salt Lake Tribune.
“And now our closure is seeing him on a bodycam video in a tent being treated that way,” she said.
“We’re frustrated because this investigation has been going on since August and, as his family, we had no idea. We had no idea he was treated poorly. We had no idea he was disrespected… We feel like we’re grieving all over again,” Fisher said.
“[Lloyd] was homeless, but he was still loved,” Fisher added tearfully.
Since this incident, SLCPD employees have received additional training on “professionalism, decorum, and ethics,” the police department said.
The Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office said on Feb. 14 that it would not be pursuing criminal charges for any of the officers, according to cops.
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