Taylorsville police officer Jimmy Jeremy Haas faces a second-degree felony manslaughter charge tied to the Oct. 9, 2024, shooting of an unarmed man, Salt Lake County prosecutors said. Prosecutors contend Haas violated police department policy and law enforcement standards when he shot the driver once through the back window of a pickup truck during a rapidly unfolding encounter.
The incident occurred about half a mile (1 kilometer) outside the Taylorsville city limits in suburbs a few miles (5 kilometers) south of downtown Salt Lake City, prosecutors said. In court documents, prosecutors did not identify the man shot, but they alleged Haas was driving an unmarked police spot-utility vehicle and followed the pickup into a parking lot.
Prosecutors said that earlier, a different Taylorsville officer had noticed the pickup because its license plates belonged to a different vehicle that had fled from Salt Lake City police earlier in the day. Once in the parking lot, prosecutors said the pickup parked between two other vehicles, and Haas pulled up behind it, turned on police lights, got out, and activated his body-worn video camera.
According to prosecutors, a woman got out of the pickup, and then the truck backed up and began ramming Haas’s police SUV. Prosecutors also allege Haas yelled multiple times, “Let me see your hands,” as the encounter played out.
Prosecutors said another Taylorsville officer arrived and used his vehicle to pin the pickup against a building. Prosecutors then allege that when Haas’s flashlight shone on the driver through the pickup’s back window, Haas fired once. Prosecutors said the wounded man fled and was later found unresponsive in a nearby garage, and that he died later; prosecutors also allege no weapons were found in the pickup truck or on the man’s body.
Haas, 36, faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted, prosecutors said. During the initial investigation, he was placed on paid leave for several months, and he was later reinstated; he is now back on paid leave pending further proceedings, Taylorsville spokesperson Kim Horiuchi said by email.
Horiuchi wrote, “We have confidence in the system and we believe every person is innocent until they are proven guilty at trial.” She declined to comment further, citing city policy not to comment on matters including personnel and the status of criminal investigations.
Haas’s attorney, Blake Hamilton, said in a statement that Haas intends to address the allegations in court. Hamilton said, “We are confident the evidence will show that officer Haas acted lawfully in defense of himself and others during a violent and rapidly unfolding encounter,” and he did not comment beyond that statement.