The downtown Salt Lake City protesters were peaceful until a mysterious group of four individuals (three of which were white) and likely one leader (holding a megaphone) decided to turn over a police cruiser that was parked on 400 South and 200 east (just North of the library). 

Who were these people? Why was this police cruiser seemingly left directly in the path of the protesters? Why did the officer leave the scene who owned the cruiser? And where were the police when this all happened?

We spoke to Dominique who is a barista at People’s Coffee. She attended the demonstration to peacefully show her solidarity against police brutality Dominique said, “The entire series of events seemed set up.” She said that there was nobody there to do any harm or violence until those few people turned over the vehicle. “Then all hell broke loose.” 

She added that prior to the overturning of the vehicle, the police officer was driving in his car, some people were messing with his vehicle, and  then “he just left.”

“Could he have driven away?” I asked.

“Absolutely. He could have driven away. But he was just one cop. What was one cop doing there when there were so many people protesting?”

Utah Stories investigates. We examine a video that isn’t currently being shown on the news. We will attempt to get the answers from the Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown. 

Watch the Utah Stories Podcast where we show clips from the protest and discuss the series of events with Silvia Castro Bennett from the Suazo Business Center about the impact that both the riots and COVID-19 have had on minority populations and minority small business owners in Utah.

FOR MORE UTAH STORIES PODCASTS GO HERE.