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South Ogden officer says he shot suspect to save colleague’s life

By Mark Shenefelt - | Jun 13, 2022

BEN DORGER, Standard-Examiner file photo

The South Ogden Police Department is seen on Thursday, June 11, 2020.

SOUTH OGDEN — A South Ogden police officer said he shot a driver at the end of a low-speed chase because he thought the man was “trying to kill” a fellow officer who was throwing down tire-popping strips to stop the car.

Officer Christopher Freestone’s account of his actions when Fredrick Jeremy Atkin was killed on Dec. 27, 2019, came in a newly filed federal court deposition and were his first public statements about the fatal shooting, which has resulted in a lawsuit alleging a police use of excessive force.

“I thought Jeremy was trying to kill Officer Ricks,” Freestone said in the deposition, which was taken March 1 and filed in court on June 7. “I thought he was going to try to run him over while he was laying spikes.”

Police cars had the 42-year-old Atkin’s Mustang surrounded on three sides as he slowed at the intersection of Riverdale Road and Wall Avenue. Freestone’s car was on the right, a short distance behind. Dash cam video showed Freestone getting out of his car, running to Atkin’s open passenger window and leaning in with his gun drawn.

The Weber County Attorney’s Office investigated the shooting and concluded Freestone had reasonable cause to shoot Atkin. But Freestone declined to be interviewed by county investigators. He said in the deposition that his refusal to talk was upon the advice of his Utah Fraternal Order of Police lawyer, who intercepted a county investigator’s business card when the investigator handed it to Freestone.

Photo supplied, U.S. District Court

Christopher Freestone

County Attorney Christopher Allred said in his report that, based on investigators’ reconstruction of the shooting, Freestone probably put the Mustang’s transmission in park with his dominant right hand, having switched his firearm to his left. The shooting may have been accidental as the officer dangled inside the car, Allred said.

“It was not an accidental shooting,” Freestone said in the deposition in response to questioning by family attorney Blake Atkin, who is representing Jeremy Atkin’s father, mother and son in the U.S. District Court suit.

He said his goal was to put the car in park, then get the keys out of the ignition, both with his right hand, but as Atkin moved his hand toward the console or a pocket and the car revved, Freestone said he decided to fire. He said he had heard Ogden police officers saying on police radio that Atkin may be armed, and he thought Atkin may have been reaching for a gun. No gun was found after the shooting.

Freestone said the situation of Officer Ricks laying down spike strips in front of the Mustang was reminiscent of the 2016 death of his best friend, West Valley City Police Officer Cody Brotherson. Brotherson was hit by a fleeing suspect’s car as he attempted to place tire-poppers.

“So especially hearing that engine rev, him reaching for whatever or the center console, I thought I was losing a good friend,” Freestone said.

Blake Atkin, in a document accompanying the deposition, contended that Freestone fired before the car revved — that Jeremy Atkin involuntarily revved the car after the shot hit him.

Allred, asked Monday about Freestone’s civil court deposition, said he had not heard of it. “We had the best analysis available at the time” without Freestone’s cooperation, Allred said. “I’ll probably go look at it again.”

However, although he said the content of Freestone’s deposition “would be interesting” to him, “I doubt it would do anything to change” his conclusion that the use of force was justified.

Jeremy Atkin had led police from four agencies on a 40-minute, meandering pursuit in the early morning hours after an Ogden officer spotted him speeding. Atkin ignored commands to stop and eluded roadblock attempts. Ogden officers at one point laid down spike strips and popped a tire.

Under Blake Atkin’s questioning, Freestone testified that he was “frustrated,” not “angry,” that Ogden had quit following Atkin as he drove into South Ogden and Riverdale. “I was in disagreement that they called it after you spiked the vehicle,” he said. “It’s been in my experience in the pursuits that I’ve been involved in, once you spike a vehicle, you own it. You get it stopped.”

Blake Atkin also quizzed Freestone about his use of obscenities as he yelled at Atkin. In police audio from the pursuit, Freestone repeatedly shouted at Atkin to “Stop the f—— car.” Atkin asked if Freestone was angry with Atkin.

“No, I wasn’t angry with him,” Freestone said. “I don’t like his decisions. I mean, he’s obviously making incorrect ones. And I’m angry that he’s putting officers in danger, the public. But him as a person, I didn’t have any feelings toward him in general.”

Freestone said he often uses obscenities with a noncompliant suspect. “Generally, foul language is used,” he said. “It catches people’s attention and it gets my point across. He needed to stop the vehicle.”

He said police believed Atkin was under the influence of drugs, another thing that made him unpredictable and dangerous.

The attorney also asked Freestone about his motivation to stop his car a short distance back and run to Atkin’s car, rather than drive up and further box in the Mustang.

“Had he started darting right, there’s a chance we could have collided,” Freestone said. “Hitting another vehicle on purpose is kind of a last-ditch effort. Obviously you want to avoid the accident report, the damage to your own vehicle, having your vehicle down. And that definitely could have been one of my decision factors.”

In his follow-up court document, Blake Atkin seized on that, saying: “It is contrary to the morals of organized society for a police officer to even weigh the inconvenience of paperwork or getting his car fixed in determining whether to recklessly risk a confrontation that might escalate to the point that killing the suspect will be necessary.”

Atkin also asked Freestone about South Ogden City awarding him a police medal of valor a few weeks after the shooting. “I put myself in harm’s way to help another officer and that’s why I got it,” Freestone said. “I don’t recall what the speech was” from the mayor or police chief. “This is a couple months after I took a man’s life, dude. So you know what I mean? I’m not thinking about this b——-. It’s very meaningless to me.”

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