Utah law student, 25, shot dead by cops who were told to turn bodycams OFF

Police who fired 12 shots at a young Utah student who had been pulled over for a traffic stop were instructed to turn off their body cameras just minutes after the fatal shooting.

Chase Allan, 25, was gunned down by five cops from Farmington Police Department in Davis County, Utah, on March 1 as his blue BMW 3-Series was parked outside a local post office.

Police claim that Allan was made a target when he failed to exit his vehicle – his mother Diane saying she imagines her son was ‘terrified for his safety.’

Family of the young Utah law student claim they were not properly informed of Allan’s ‘brutal murder’ and comes after his mother sued the Farmington Police Department over her own traffic incident.

It remains unclear whether the 25-year-old was armed as the community reels from the loss and family desperately search for answers – Diane claiming information has been scarce and police have been ‘stonewalling’ her.

Police who fired 12 shots at Chase Allan, 25, who they pulled over for a traffic stop were instructed to turn off their body cams minutes after the fatal shooting

Allan is survived by his mother Diane, father Kevin and sister Courtney

About four minutes after the shooting took place a first call went out over the radio to cops in the parking lot of the post office, then another call about 16 minutes later, according to Fox 13.

In the first call-out officers who are ‘off the scene’ are told to turn off their cameras.

In the second, all officers ‘on the Farmington incident’ are told to make sure the cameras are turned off.

Shots were fired at 3.27pm Wednesday afternoon, at 3.31pm cops were instructed: ‘If you’re off the scene, you can go ahead and kill your bodycams.’

At 3.46 pm a second transmission heard said: ‘Make sure that all the bodycams have been shut off now.’

’10-4. All units on the Farmington incident, make sure your bodycams are shut off.’

Most police departments make use of body cameras for the purpose of accountability and transparency. Policies are also in place to explain why they would be turned on and off.

According to Chief Eric Johnsen, officers are asked to turn off their body cameras within a reasonable amount of time after an officer-involved shooting for a variety of reasons.

The body cameras have been sequestered by a supervisor in the wake of the incident with members of the Davis County Officer-Involved Critical Incident Response Team tasked with reviewing every second of body camera video.

Farmington PD’s body camera policy states: ‘The portable recorder should remain on continuously until the member reasonably believes his or her direct participation in the incident is complete or the situation no longer fits the criteria for activation.’

Michael White, a criminology professor at Arizona State University, told the outlet 20 minutes is more than enough time for body cameras to be recording after an incident.

‘I have read hundreds and hundreds of body-worn camera policies for agencies all across the United States,’ he said.

‘You’re not going to keep them recording nonstop. I think a 20-minute window is actually a fairly extended period of time to keep a camera activated after an incident has ended, even a critical incident, and it makes sense to me.’

Johnsen said the five officers are given two ‘sleep cycles’ prior to giving a statement. They have not been interviewed yet.

Family of the young Utah law student claim they were not properly informed of Allan’s ‘brutal murder’ and comes after his mother, Diane (pictured) sued the Farmington Police Department over her own traffic incident

Allan was reportedly shot at 12 times by five police officers during what they’ve described to be a routine traffic stop when he didn’t get out of his car

The officers will be able to review their body camera video prior to giving statements. Johnsen said he has not reviewed the video yet either.

The five officers involved have been placed on administrative leave during an investigation – making up 20 percent of the force.

But it isn’t the first encounter that the Davis County department has had an incident involving the Allan family.

Allan’s mother, Diane, sued the Farmington Police Department over a traffic stop in April last year.

According to court records, Diane said the police had no right to conduct that traffic stop.

Documents filed in federal court show Diane believes the city of Farmington’s rules doesn’t apply to her as an independent resident of the state of Utah.

Allan represented herself in filing the lawsuit.

As ‘one of the sovereign people of Utah,’ driving her own vehicle in Farmington, Allan argued she had an ‘inherent right’ to ‘access the public roads without her Liberty restrained,’ she wrote in the suit.

Allan claimed those rights were violated on April 7, 2022, when police pulled her over.

The Utah’s justice courts citation alleges Allan did not have a license with her as she drove on an expired registration.

Police at the time of Diane’s traffic offence said the expired registration was the reason for the stop, she disputed this reasoning.

‘Defendants wrongfully claim to have the right to enforce traffic codes in the face of Plaintiff’s Constitutional Rights,’ Diane wrote.

The lawsuit claims she refused to provide her license, registration or insurance information to police.

She countered by saying one of the officers as throwing ‘the paper citation through Plaintiff’s window’ before walking away.

Later, Diane described going to the Farmington Police Department along with her son to hand-deliver what she called ‘the Rescissioned citation.’

‘A few hours later Plaintiff went to the FARMINGTON CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT with a witness, (Chase Allan) and hand delivered the Rescissioned citation,’ she wrote.

‘DEFENDANT LT ERIC JOHNSEN came out to the lobby and asked how he could help plaintiff.’

Diane said that Johnsen, allegedly threw her citation in the trash as she watched.

Johnsen, now the Farmington police chief, was a lieutenant at the time of Diane Allan’s traffic stop.

She names him along with several other individuals in the police department, the city, the court system, and the Davis County Attorney.

‘DEFENDANT JOHNSEN then stated that if Plaintiff didn’t register her vehicle it would be impounded. The witness then stated ‘that’s a threat’ to which DEFENDANT JOHNSON [sic] replied ‘no, it’s a promise, it’s a promise’.’

Diane claimed Johnsen’s statement warning her car could be impounded amounted to ‘a declaration of war against Plaintiff,’ according to the lawsuit.

Family of Chase Allan, 25, say they’re desperate for answers about the circumstances surround his shooting death at the hands of police in Utah

‘Plaintiff notified DEFENDANT JOHNSEN that she had come into the department to resolve this matter peaceably.’

Once the citations went to Utah’s justice court system its alleged the prosecutor never responded to her motion to dismiss the case.

She also claimed the official court record contains perjury by saying she ‘refused to sign’ the citations, arguing no one asked her to sign anything.

The federal government has filed multiple motions to dismiss the case, which Diane has appealed in motions of her own. It remains open at this time.

Diane has been desperately seeking answers about the circumstances surrounding her son’s death from the police department following the March 1 shooting to no avail.

She claimed in a statement released to the media that she found out about the horrific killing through news reports. 

Cops have claimed the shooting was a result of Allan’s non compliant after they asked why his sedan didn’t have a license plate.

Grim photos taken shortly afterwards show Allen’s feet, clad in red hi-top sneakers, peeping out from the bottom of a stretcher, while his bullet-riddled car sat nearby.

Allen’s family say they weren’t properly informed of his brutal death. They’ve accused the police department of unlawfully killing their loved-one, and have accused cops of a cover-up. 

In a statement to FOX 13, Allan’s family said that the death has been ‘devastating and tragic’ and that they’ve ‘not been permitted’ to see him yet.

‘Police are stonewalling us. Our family has not been permitted to see Chase and has not been contacted by authorities or justice departments with information surrounding this investigation,’ wrote Diane Allan, Chase’s mother.

‘Our family was not properly notified of Chase’s death as next of kin. We found out about Chase’s death along with the entirety of our community via news reporters and articles written online.’

Allan graduated from Davis High School in 2016, before going to play soccer at UC-Davis and Utah State University.

His mother said that he’d been studying law in recent years.

‘[Chase] was a gracious, loving soul who was known by everyone in his community to be caring, thoughtful, and kind and would do anything for someone in need,’ she wrote.

‘He was always selflessly helping and protecting others in need.’

The grieving mother said that Allan had a ‘shy and quiet demeanor’ but was quick to make friends who she said will remember him fondly.

‘He was always selflessly helping and protecting others in need. He has been studying law the last few years and was a patriot doing what he could to defend the people’s freedom and liberty in his community,’ she said.

The statement claims that there had been a request for multiple officers to the scene a couple of blocks before the stop. Police have offered few details about the case.

The five officers involved have been placed on administrative leave during an investigation – making up 20 percent of the force.

Chase was living at home with his parents at the time of the shooting in the same city where he had grown up. 

‘There’s a lot missing from this, right? What the circumstances were,’ said Chris Burbank, retired Salt Lake City police chief to the outlet.

On Wednesday around 3.30 pm Allan was pulled over in a post office parking lot for driving with no license plates. 

A Farmington police officer requested backup and, according to police, Allan refused to exit the vehicle.

Officers said that during the attempt to get him out, multiple shots were fired.

‘That’s how we train and I know my guys and if they fired shots I’m certain they were in fear of their life,’ said Farmington Police chief Eric Johnsen to FOX 13.

‘I will argue there is no license plate infraction in this country that is worth the loss of someone’s life,’ said Burbank.

Allan graduated from Davis High School in 2016, before going to play soccer at UC-Davis and Utah State University

Pictures from the scene show the 25-year-old being taken to hospital on a stretcher his car riddled with bullet holes. He died in hospital later that day

Allan was shot inside the car and later died in hospital.

‘It is the responsibility of the government to tell the public what we engaged in,’ Burbank said. 

‘This is not unique to just cities or problems. We’re seeing this and it really is a failure of our system that we can change.’

None of the Farmington Police officers were injured and he Davis County Critical Incident Protocol Team has taken over the investigation. DailyMail.com has reached out to the police department.