Dramatic footage has surfaced of Utah police officers exercising restraint in disarming a 19-year-old suspect during a traffic stop.
Orem PD officers pulled over a suspicious vehicle on September 29, with intent on questioning the occupants.
Upon pulling the vehicle over, one of the occupants -Anton Oliver Preto Bay- gave a false name.
“When the officer confronted him about the false name, the defendant opened the door quickly and exited the vehicle. As the officer stepped back to avoid getting hit by the door, he heard a clicking sound and saw the defendant crouch and point a gun at another officer,” the charging documents state.
Bay fired a BB gun three times at one officer, who did not have the time or spatial ability to draw his weapon. His partner managed to draw his sidearm but refrained from firing- for good reason.
“He saw the gun as it came up, and he drew his handgun and was about to shoot when the other officer closed the distance. So he didn’t. And the only reason he didn’t was because the other officer was so close to the suspect at the time,” he said.
According to Orem Police Lt. Craig Martinez, the officer who was targeted by Bay grabbed the suspects pistol and pointed it toward the ground. It was only then that he realized it was a BB gun.
Realizing this was likely a “suicide by cop” incident, the officers tackled Bay.
“You can hear him saying, ‘Just kill me,'” he said. “This kid wanted us to shoot him, that’s what it boiled down to. He had warrants. He didn’t want to go to jail. He wanted us to shoot him.”
According to the Deseret News, the officers -who are seasoned veterans in their own respective ways- were lauded for their actions in the incident.
Bay was charged on October 3 with assault against a peace officer, a second-degree felony; giving a false ID to an officer, a class A misdemeanor; marijuana possession, a class B misdemeanor; and unlawful alcohol possession, a class B misdemeanor.
At the time of his arrest, he had three active warrants and a lengthy criminal history.
