Salt Lake County District Attorney said use of deadly force justified

COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS — The Salt Lake County District Attorney declined to file criminal charges for the use of deadly force by a Unified Police Department Officer, after conducting a walk-through of the incident Friday morning.

According to a release from the District Attorney’s Office, the incident took place on Oct. 31, 2023, when police said Mark Brunson, 38, was “intoxicated and angry.”

Brunson reportedly got into his vehicle and drove off with officers in pursuit, before stopping his car in a neighborhood. Police said he then took two long black steel swords from his car and “began walking towards the officers while ‘violently’ and ‘aggressively’ swinging the swords and clashing them together.”

As Brunson reportedly advanced toward officers with the swords, Officer Sustayta with the Unified Police Department of Greater Salt Lake, used her taser. The release states that immediately after the taser was used, Officer Lopez with UPD fired his handgun two times.

Brunson “dropped the swords and dropped to the ground.” Then the two officers began rendering emergency medical aid, the release states. Brunson was reportedly pronounced dead on scene.

The release said that law enforcement officers are “legally justified” in using deadly force, citing that “the officer reasonably believes that the use of deadly force is necessary to prevent death or serious bodily injury to the officer or an individual other than the suspect.”

“As such, we believe that a jury would likely find that the facts and reasonable inferences satisfy the elements of the affirmative legal defense of justification,” the release states. “Accordingly, we declined to file a criminal charge against Officer Lopez for his use of deadly force in this matter.”