County Attorney, Police Chief Disagree On How To Examine Case Of Gun Being Pulled On Boy

WOODS CROSS, Utah – A day after Woods Cross police promised an independent review of an incident in which an officer pointed a gun at a young black child, the county prosecutor said he’s not on board with the idea.

“The Davis County District Attorney’s Office does not do ‘reviews,’” Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings said in a statement Tuesday.

Rawlings said his office has not received any information about the case from police. The statement appears to contradict what Woods Cross Police Chief Chad Soffe said during a press conference on Monday.

“I was in contact with the county attorney today and he said he’s willing to do that,” the chief said when asked about the planned review. “And it’s not an investigation; it’s a review. I’d like to stipulate that. We’re not investigating the actions. We’re reviewing them to see if there’s any changes that we might be able to make in our policies.”

The gun-pulling incident occurred Thursday afternoon in Centerville as police searched for a number of suspects involved in a shooting. The chief said his officer did nothing wrong when he misidentified 10-year-old DJ Hrubes for one of the suspects.

“Everyone responded in accordance with protocol and the training they have received in the past,” the chief said.

Instead of a simple review, Rawlings said if his office gets involved it would seek information from all available sources and that the case would be treated like any other being screen for possible charges.

“Woods Cross City was informed this morning that if they do send it to us, it will be a criminal investigation into the officer’s conduct,” Rawlings statement went on to say.

The attorney for the family of DJ Hrubes said she had her doubts when the chief spoke on Monday and made the distinction between a review and an investigation.

“I’m starting to think that there’s a bigger problem here,” attorney Karra Porter said. “I really believed that this would be a request for investigation, that there would be an investigation and we’d find out what happened. But I gotta tell you my antennae are up because what I’m seeing doesn’t make any sense to me.”

Porter said the boy’s family wants to get to the bottom of the conflicting versions of events provided by police and eyewitnesses.

“I’m starting to become concerned that the only way to get an investigation is going to be something the family did not want to do—and that’s use the legal process,” Porter said.

On Monday president of the NAACP for Idaho, Nevada and Utah also called for a full investigation.

“I think an investigation would take it maybe a little further into looking at exactly, step by step, everything that occurred,” Jeanetta Williams said.

Chief Soffe did not responds to KSL’s repeated requests for comment on Tuesday.