Attorneys for the family of Darrien Hunt released the official state autopsy report Tuesday. The 22-year-old was shot and killed by a Saratoga Springs police officer in September.
The official examination from the state office of the medical examiner shows that Darrien Hunt was shot six times on the backside of his body. The report also found that there were no drugs in his system at the time of his death. Robert Sykes is the attorney representing Hunt’s mother, Susan. He says the report confirms a lot of what they had already suspected.
“He’s running from the police," he says. "They can’t have been in any legitimate fear that he was going to harm them, and they chased him and had an old fashion shootout.”
The medical examiner also included a small case narrative in the report. It says that the police officers stopped Hunt between a Top Stop gas station and the Cyprus Credit Union in Saratoga Springs. Then, the first officer exited the car and the subject charged him swinging his sword. At this point, the officers fired three shots before Hunt fled East around a Panda Express where officers caught up with him and fired three more shots that caused Hunt to collapse on the northwest corner of the building.
Sykes says this report is inconsistent with a photo they’ve received from a witness that shows Hunt standing calmly next to the police car with both officers standing outside.
Hunt’s mother, Susan, says for her the report helps prove that Darrien couldn’t have been lunging at the officers when they shot him.
“They shot him in his arm and it came out his wrist," she says. "How do you have a bullet to go that way if he lunged forward? And it’s just the one. All the others are freaking stuck right in his back!”
Sykes says he and Hunt’s family are still trying to gather as much information as possible, and at this point have little evidence of what happened. He says they are still seeking out witnesses and are hoping to get more information from the Utah County Attorney’s Office.
Utah County Attorney Tim Taylor did not return several phone calls from KUER seeking an official response.
State Medical Examiner's Report on the Autopsy of Darrien Hunt by Brian Grimmett
