Investigation determines officer shooting of 83-year-old at Utah-Arizona border was justified

In a file photo, St. George Police conduct an investigation around a passenger vehicle after shots were heard at the northbound Interstate 15 Port of Entry, St. George, Utah, Aug. 3, 2022 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — An investigation by the Washington County Critical Incident Task Force and the Washington County Attorney has determined that the fatal shooting of an 83-year-old man by a St. George Police officer at the Utah Port of Entry was justified.

St. George Police SWAT officers surround a vehicle at the northbound Interstate 15 Port of Entry, St. George, Utah, Aug. 3, 2022 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News

Raymond Gladman, who was in the process of moving from Sedona, Arizona, to be near his family in Bellingham, Washington, was seen on surveillance footage driving in circles at the Port of Entry along northbound Interstate 15 on the morning of Aug. 3. After initially speaking with officials at the port, Gladman ended up in a standoff with Utah Highway Patrol, St. George Police and the St. George SWAT team that lasted about an hour and a half before a police sniper killed Gladman with a shot to the head.

The investigation determined the shooting to be a “suicide by cop” and said Gladman exited the vehicle with both hands firmly on a firearm and was pointing it at officers when an officer opened fire. 

It was reasonable for the officer that fired the shot to conclude that peace officers on the scene were at risk of death or serious bodily injury,” said a letter by Washington County Attorney Eric Clarke to St. George Police Chief Kyle Whitehead with the results of the investigation. “It was also reasonable for officers at the scene to conclude that Mr. Gladman was suicidal and knew that officers would use deadly force if he posed an immediate threat to their safety his actions escalated the situation which caused the use of deadly force. The shooting officer’s timely action prevented Mr. Gladman from opening fire.

One of the most difficult and dangerous situations we ask our law enforcement officers to deal with is when someone decides to ‘commit suicide by cop.’ In these very dangerous situations, officers must both try to convince the person to choose another course of action while being ready to protect themselves, citizens, and their fellow officers at any moment,” the letter continued. “The use of deadly force was clearly justified in this incident.”

Clarke told St. George News it was a complicated determination to make.

“I really do think these are the toughest spots we put our law enforcement into. Someone shows up not in a great place and is waving around a gun, and we have to assume it’s loaded,” Clarke said, adding that Gladman refused to put the gun down for more than an hour. “I don’t know what else we can ask an officer to do. We need to make sure the public and negotiator aren’t at risk.”

In an image from a surveillance video obtained by St. George News, workers at the Utah Port of Entry are seen conversing with Raymond Gladman, driving a Toyota Prius, before police shot and killed him St. George, Utah, Aug. 7, 2022 | Photo courtesy Utah Department of Transportation, St. George News

The letter also notes that the conclusions were based on the recollections of officers at the scene. It confirms, as previously reported by St. George News, that the minutes of the actual shooting are missing from surveillance footage. The investigation concluded that the Utah Department of Transportation cameras were motion-activated and “when Mr. Gladman became more agitated, the officers on the scene took positions that protected themselves and held still. There was not enough movement to activate the onsite camera because the only person moving was Mr. Gladman, and he was too far away to trigger the camera.” 

Clarke also said in the letter that body cameras worn by officers did not capture a view of Gladman “immediately prior to him being shot or upon being shot due to where the officers were located.” Attempts by St. George News to obtain the body camera footage through a Government Records Access and Management Act request have been denied by St. George Police, citing the ongoing investigation.  

Without footage, Clarke told St. George News the investigation relied on interviews with officers. However, Clarke said measures are taken to ensure the officers aren’t able to collaborate with each other.

The way we do this — it’s all science based. We interview officers two sleep cycles after the event so they have a clear recollection of the incident,” Clarke said.

After reviewing any body camera footage, three officers that had been isolated from each other were interviewed separately nearly simultaneously, Clarke said, and the information from all three corroborated each other’s account.

“I’m pretty comfortable they weren’t coordinating with each other,” Clarke said. 

Clarke said there was a “ton said” by Gladman to the negotiator to indicate Gladman wanted to take his own life. He said in the end, no matter his mental faculties, Gladman had a choice whether to put down his weapon.

“We don’t know how much he understood, but from what the officers were saying, everybody knew that Gladman had a choice where he could escalate the situation or deescalate the situation at the end. When someone says, ‘Don’t make us do this; put the gun down,’ anyone in a good state of mind would put their gun down.” 

L-R: Raymond Gladman next to his grandson Dylan at his high school graduation with his son Dean Gladman, Bellingham, Wash., June 2021 | Photo courtesy Dean Gladman, St. George News

Gladman’s son previously told St. George News that he has questioned whether the shooting of his father was justified. Dean Gladman also mentioned that his father had dementia.

The younger Gladman has not responded to attempts by St. George News to contact him in response to the investigation’s conclusion.

LuAnn Lundquist, who is the founder and executive director of Memory Matters Utah, which helps local people and families dealing with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, said that families need to do more when a loved one has dementia to make the “hard decision” to take their keys away to prevent tragedies.

“In talking with officers, I was told that most if not all wrong-way fatal accidents involved someone with dementia,” Lundquist said. “I think the question that we all need to consider is why we don’t do the hard things in situations like this and remove the dangerous situation before it becomes a tragedy.”

Clarke defended the large use of force that came out to the incident, consisting of 12 squad cars and a SWAT team. He said there were not a “a ton of officers on the scene” compared to other recent incidents.

“Officers should be doing everything they can to keep themselves safe,” Clarke said. “I would be curious what those people would say what we should do differently short of letting them shoot.”

The Washington County Critical Incident Task Force, which consists of officers from several law enforcement agencies in the county, conducts an investigation any time a law enforcement officer uses deadly force as to whether that force was justified. The county attorney then makes the final determination on if the shooting was justified and if any laws were violated.

Utah Code Section 76-2-404(2)(c) says an officer is justified in using deadly force when:

  • The officer reasonably believes that the use of deadly force is necessary to prevent death or serious bodily injury to the officer or an individual other than the suspect.”
  • Or if the officer believes “deadly force is necessary to prevent the arrest from being defeated by escape” and there is probable cause to believe the suspect has “threatened infliction of death or serious bodily injury” or “poses a threat of death or serious bodily injury to the officer or to an individual other than the suspect.”

According to the investigation, the officer felt Gladman was making a move to potentially fire on other officers.

In the timeline provided by the investigation, Gladman interacted with UDOT employees for 30 minutes but would not leave the vehicle or give his name. The report said Gladman “appeared to be confused, and the UDOT employees were concerned enough that they contacted law enforcement to perform a welfare check.”

In an image from a surveillance video obtained by St. George News, workers at the Utah Port of Entry are seen conversing with the driver of a Toyota Prius before police shot and killed the driver, St. George, Utah, Aug. 7, 2022 | Photo courtesy Utah Department of Transportation, St. George News

Around 7:40 a.m., two Utah Highway Patrol troopers arrived and began talking to Gladman through his open window. Soon afterwards, they said Gladman showed his handgun and the troopers backed away and called for backup. They added Gladman didn’t respond to commands to put the gun away or step out of the vehicle and began pointing the firearm at himself. 

St. George Police arrived, and a trained crisis negotiator spent the next 45 minutes communicating with Gladman by yelling at a distance. Police said Gladman refused to speak over a phone or put the gun away. 

According to the report, toward the end of the negotiations, Gladman became “more agitated and aggressive,” and the negotiating officer moved back. 

“Early on, the negotiator’s comfortable standing out in the open. They eventually got him a shield, but he’s still standing out there,” Clarke said. “As it escalates, he steps back and draws a firearm. That’s a pretty good indication things were ratcheting up.”

Officers, including the one who fired the fatal shot, asked again for Gladman to put the gun down and come out. 

The report said Gladman “opened the car door, turned his body and legs towards officers. He placed his feet on the ground and held his firearm using both hands in a grip and position that would have allowed him to fire the gun” and pointed it at officers. At that moment, the officer shot and killed Gladman.

In an image from a surveillance video obtained by St. George News, the driver of a Toyota Prius can be seen starting to exit the vehicle just before police shot and killed him, St. George, Utah, Aug. 7, 2022 | Photo courtesy Utah Department of Transportation, St. George News

Gladman was not able to fire the weapon, but Clarke said the gun was determined to be loaded. 

Lundquist said that she and Memory Matters conduct training with St. George Police to deal with people with dementia.

“I have done training with the police and first responders through the Crisis Intervention Training program every year since 2006. The police officers that I’ve dealt with want to have a positive outcome at the end of the situation. Many of the officers I have trained over the years had had a loved one with dementia,” Lundquist said.

“I can only imagine that the officer who had to make that terrible decision to shoot an elderly man, did so as a last resort and only because he determined that people were in very real and imminent danger,” she said. “What a horrible split-second decision that must have been for a man or woman who had sworn to serve and protect.”

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

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