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UPD detective cleared in use of deadly force last October

Posted at 10:53 PM, Apr 18, 2019
and last updated 2019-04-19 00:56:09-04

KEARNS, Utah — A Unified Police Department detective was justified in his use of deadly force when he shot and killed a man in a Kearns neighborhood last October, according to the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office.

The DA’s Office will not pursue charges against Det. Geoff Clark, who fired the shots that resulted in the death of 61-year-old James Lyle Kuehn.

Kuehn robbed a Fiesta Ole restaurant at knifepoint on October 17 before police tracked him to a nearby home and ordered him to surrender, according to a report released by the DA’s Office Thursday.

“Instead of complying with Officer Cameron’s commands, Mr. Kuehn quickly came towards Officer Cameron with a knife in his right hand. As Mr. Kuehn quickly closed the distance to Officer Cameron and then UPD Det. Geoff Clark, Det. Clark drew his firearm and fired three shots at Mr. Kuehn who went down. Mr. Kuehn died from his injuries,” the report states.

Kuehn died three days later at Intermountain Medical Center on October 20 after his family members requested to discontinue medical treatment. His cause of death was a spinal cord injury and multiple traumatic injuries including gunshot wounds to the chest and liver, the report states.