Draper police have identified the 34-year-old Sandy man who was shot and killed Wednesday morning by a West Valley City Police Officer.
Draper City Deputy Police Chief John Eining says at about 8:40 Wednesday, West Valley City Police Detective Jason Vincent was leaving his house in Draper for work when he spotted a man slumped over in the driver’s seat of an SUV. Vincent called for backup and two Draper officers and another West Valley City Officer arrived at the scene. The officers found narcotics inside the vehicle and attempted to arrest 34-year-old Jeffrey Nielson but he broke free, got back into the SUV and pulled out a knife. That’s when Detective Vincent fired multiple shots at Nielson. Vincent is on administrative leave with pay. Draper Deputy Chief Eining says the other officers present at the scene remain on the job. He says Draper city is taking the lead on the investigation.
“And then West Valley City, since it was the involved officer, they have an administrative investigation that goes on,” Eining says. “So there are two that are parallel. We’re kind of running those jointly. So our investigators are working with their investigators.”
Eining says one Draper Police Officer was wearing a body camera.
“We have seen that,” Eining says. “We’re just going to wait to announce when we’re going to release that and how we’re going to release that.”
Detective Vincent is a 12-year-veteran of the West Valley City Police force. He was cleared of wrong-doing in a 2013 officer-involved shooting. The suspect in that case survived.
