Utah Man Shot 12 Times by Police During Traffic Stop, Family Says

Body camera footage from a traffic stop in Utah earlier this month shows that officers shot and killed a recent college grad after allegedly seeing him reaching for a gun.

According to Fox News, officers from the Farmington Police Department in Utah flagged down a BMW car driven by 25-year-old Chase Allan on March 1 at 3:22 p.m. after seeing its illegitimate license plate.

The body camera video related to the incident was made public on Wednesday by Police Chief Eric Johnsen.

A police officer told Allan that he was stopped because the vehicle had no registration, to which the Utah man replied, "I don't need registration, and I don't answer questions."

Four other police officers arrived at the scene after the officer asked for backup.

Utah Man Allegedly Not Cooperative During the Traffic Stop

The police officer asked Chase Allan for identification, and he refused multiple times before he handed over his passport.

However, the Utah man said it was not him on the passport because "that is a piece of plastic paper."

The officer then asked Allan if he had a fraudulent passport, to which Allan replied, "no." The officer then directed him to get out of the car, but he refused.

An officer also said they would "break the window" and pull him out of the vehicle if he did not step out. But the Utah man instead stated, "We're going to have an issue."

One of the police officers then moved in to pull Allan out of the vehicle, but another cop suddenly yelled, "gun, gun, gun," VICE reported.

Several police officers can be seen in the video then firing multiple shots at the Utah man.

During Wednesday's press briefing showing the video, Eric Johnsen noted on the screen that the Utah man's gun holster was initially concealed in the vehicle, but the weapon was eventually visible on the floor of the front seat.

It was not clear if, at any point, Allan was reaching for the weapon as he was also holding a cell phone. Only seconds After the officer yelled "gun" multiple times, several shots rang out, hitting the Utah man who eventually died at a hospital.

According to Allan's family, the Utah man was shot 12 times. They said his death was a "brutal murder" and questioned whether the arrest was targeted, which the police denied.

Allan's sister published an emotional message on Facebook about how they discovered his death through the news and how the cops were "stonewalling" them.

Police Chief Says Officers at Traffic Stop Not Aware of Utah Man's 'Sovereign Citizen' Beliefs

Four cops involved in the incident had been with the Farmington police department for less than eight months, while the fifth had been with the department for 12 years, according to Eric Johnsen.

They all fired their weapons during the incident and have already been placed on paid leave pending the investigation as per department policy.

Before last week's incident, the Utah man and his mother, Diane Killian-Allan, had run-ins with local police where they seemed to express their "sovereign citizen" beliefs that can be described as a group of individuals believing they were not bound by the country's laws, Standard-Examiner reported.

However, Johnsen said none of the law enforcement employees were familiar with their beliefs.

"I see (police) deal with (Allan) professionally, even feel cool calm and collected temperament, and unfortunately, then I see things go a really tragic direction," Johnsen noted.

He declined to say whether he believed the officers' actions were justified, noting that it is the investigators' job to make that determination. Yet, he addressed the general situations where police may use lethal force.

"Officers are trained to respond using deadly force when there's an imminent threat of serious bodily injury or death... to them or anyone other than the suspect... And what I see on that video is officers not responding to someone with a gun in a holster," he said.

Johnsen noted that Bountiful Police Department officials were assigned to serve as liaisons to Allan's family and not the Farmington police.

He added that officials have tried contacting the Utah man's family to let them watch the body camera footage but have not heard back.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Bert Hoover

WATCH: Farmington Police Release Body Cam Footage From Deadly Officer-Involved Shooting - From KUTV 2 News Salt Lake City