On March 1, a 25-year-old man named Chase Allan was shot and killed by police officers during a traffic stop in a Utah suburb. On Wednesday, bodycam footage was released that shows the leadup to the officers opening fire on Allan’s car.
Allan was pulled over in his BMW by police in Farmington, a Salt Lake City suburb,around 3:20 pm after an officer spotted his illegal license plate.
After pulling Allan over, an officer walked up to the vehicle and tapped on the driver-side window. Allan, who was holding a cell phone, cracked the window open.
The officer told Allan, “The reason you were stopped today is there is no registration on your vehicle.”
“I don’t need registration, and I don’t answer questions,” Allan responded.
The officer, realizing that this would be a difficult situation, said, “Alright,” and then called for backup. He then tried to obtain identification from Allan, who again refused to cooperate.
The officer informed Allan that he was “detained and not free to leave” and calmly offered to discuss with Allan the laws he was violating after obtaining documents of identification.
Allan tried to make an argument for why he did not legally have to hand over identification, to which the officer replied, “I understand what you are saying. And what I’m telling you is that you do not have an option to identify yourself. You are lawfully required to identify yourself.”
“The direction that this encounter goes is 100% in your hands,” the officer warned Allan. “Do you want to identify yourself to me, or do you want to go a different route?”
Allan reluctantly yielded to the officer’s demands, handing his passport over to the officer but then insinuating that the passport was fraudulent.
At this point, assisting officer arrived at the scene, and the first officer asked Allan to step out of the vehicle.
Allan warns the officers that they will “have an issue” if they continue to try and force him from his car. As Allan moves his phone from his right hand to his left, officers notice a holster on the hip of the 25-year-old.
As the officers try to physically remove Allan from his vehicle, Allan reaches for his gun, at which point an officer is heard yelling “gun!” repeatedly, at which point the five responding officers open fire on the vehicle.
After they remove Allan from the car, a gun is seen lying on the floor of the car by the front seat.
Allan was taken to the hospital and later pronounced dead.
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The family of the 25-year-old has criticized the actions of the responding officers, calling the circumstances of Allan’s death a “brutal murder.”
The mother of Allan, Diane, was pulled over in April 2022 by the same police department over an expired registration. After this, she filed a lawsuit in federal court against police chief Eric Johnsen, who was a police officer at the time, police officer Dane Hanson, and other officials.
In the lawsuit, Diane said that she is “one of the sovereign people of Utah” and has an “inherent right” to “be able to access the public roads without her Liberty restrained.”
She also stated in her lawsuit that by warning her that her car would be impounded for improper registration, the officer was making a “declaration of war.”