Salt Lake City police officers have been cleared of any criminal wrongdoing in the pursuit of a vehicle that resulted in a fatal crash near the 9th and 9th whale sculpture in October, according to Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill’s ruling on Friday.

The incident unfolded when police responded to a shooting at the Durango Bar, located at 923 South State Street. While en route with active lights and sirens, a car abruptly pulled out in front of the officers without yielding, as revealed in the prosecutor’s findings.

Ignoring the police presence, the car accelerated northbound on State Street at a high rate of speed. Suspecting that the vehicle may have been involved in the shooting at the bar, the officers initiated a pursuit, as stated in the prosecutor’s report.

The pursuit continued as two additional officers joined in. The car raced eastbound down 900 South for approximately 1.5 miles before the tragic turn of events occurred near the intersection of 1100 East and 900 South. Failing to navigate a roundabout, the car lost control, careened over a curb, and collided with a tree, resulting in a fatal crash, according to official documents.

Investigations revealed that the vehicle had reached a speed of 71 miles per hour before the rollover crash. The driver, identified as 20-year-old Josue Hernandez Perez, sustained severe injuries, while the sole passenger, 21-year-old Douglas Rodriguez, tragically lost his life at the scene.

Despite not resorting to any use of force or specific pursuit tactics like tire-deflation devices or the “precision immobilization technique,” which involves intentionally striking a fleeing vehicle to halt it, the Police Department invoked its “officer-involved critical incident” protocol.

However, the Salt Lake County protocol document specifies that the fatal crash did not meet the criteria for an “officer-involved critical incident,” which necessitates an external agency investigation into an officer’s use of force resulting in “serious bodily injury or death of a subject”.

District Attorney Sim Gill stated that his office found no evidence of any criminal violations committed by the officers during the pursuit.

Josue Hernandez Perez, the driver of the pursued vehicle, was charged in October with second-degree felony manslaughter. At the time of the crash, Hernandez Perez’s blood alcohol content was found to be three times higher than Utah’s legal limit of 0.05, according to the charging documents.

The police have not released further details regarding the bar shooting or whether the individuals involved in the pursuit were connected to the initial call.