ROY, Utah -- He was shot to death by two Roy City Police officers in February, and 38-year-old Nicolas Sanchez’s loved ones are still waiting for answers.
Now an attorney out of California is filing a lawsuit against Roy City Police Department.
“I still haven't watched all of it. I can't,” Annette Olsen said.
Body camera footage brings to life the night Annette Olsen lost Sanchez, a man she took in as her son years ago.
Officer: "Come over and talk to me."
Sanchez: "What for though?"
Roy police say it started with an argument in a gas station parking lot, and two officers were called to the store for suspicious activity. Police say Sanchez was unwilling to talk.
Officer: "Or do you just want to be arrested right now? Its your choice."
Sanchez: "What do you want to talk to me for though?"
Officer: "I will let you know. Come over here. We got called on you."
Police then tell Sanchez to keep his hands out of his pockets.
Sanchez: "Oh, sorry, look I don't have anything."
Officer 2: "You've got a gun on you. Don’t reach for it."
Sanchez then tries to run away, and the officer tackles him. That's when his partner fired a shot, which police say led the first officer to believe Sanchez may have had another weapon, so he wrestled away Sanchez’s gun and then shot him with it.
Officer 2: "Let me see your hands. Let me see your hands." That order was followed by the sound of multiple gun shots.
“I wish I could be there cause I would have been with him,” Annette said. “He didn't have anyone there with, and no one there to give him a hug and tell him that you love him.”
Annette says she can see the confusion on Sanchez’s face from the start of the video.
“I usually side with the police, and I gave them a little bit of doubt thinking maybe Nick did do something wrong, but then when I saw the tape: it was, they didn’t give him a chance,” Annette said.
The Sanchez family attorney agrees and says he doesn't buy what the police are saying.
“I've never seen such a situation where you disarm a subject and then you open fire on him with his own gun; it's almost like a horror movie,” Attorney Humberto Guizar said.
Nearly two months later, Annette’s home still isn't the same.
“It's emptier of course, and you just keep expecting him to come through the door,” Olsen said.
Annette says she simply wants police to admit they were wrong.
The Weber County District Attorney is still investigating to see if the shooting was justified. The two officers are on paid administrative leave. Roy City Police declined to comment on the pending litigation.
