Newly released bodycam footage captures the shocking moment a 4-year-old Utah boy opened fire cops to try to stop his dad from getting arrested.
The footage shows its officers initially struggling to forcibly remove Sadaat Johnson, 27, from his car after a 911 call that he had “brandished” a gun at drive-thru staff at a McDonald’s in suburban Salt Lake City.
As officers force him to the ground to cuff him, one shouts “gun!” — seconds before a single shot rings out.
“Drop the gun!” one of the Unified Police Department cops shouts, with one shown standing in a combat stance with his weapon pointed at those inside the car.
The bodycam shows some of the other officers running around tho the vehicle’s passenger side, their shocked responses bleeped out.
The unsettling incident occurred in February but the footage has only just been released now.
“Kids!” one of the officers then shouts after spotting Johnson’s 3-year-old daughter as well as the 4-year-old son accused of being the shooter, according to the video.
“Are you all right, kid?” a female officer asks to the sound of crying from the young passengers. “It’s OK,” she tells them as they are eased out of the car.
Police said at the time that Johnson “brandished a firearm at the employees” after getting “an incorrect order in the drive-thru.”
The investigation showed that Johnson then “told the child to shoot at the police,” authorities said. It was not clear exactly when he gave the order and it was not caught in the bodycam clip.
The boy — who was taken into protective custody — said he shot at the cops because “he wanted his daddy back,” according to court records obtained by ABC4.
The dad later pleaded guilty to child abuse or neglect and aggravated assault, both third-degree felonies, KSL noted in March. A misdemeanor charge for interfering with a police officer was dismissed.
He was ordered spend 120 days in jail followed by three years of probation, as well as anger management and parenting courses. He will no longer be able to own firearms.
“I would like to apologize for my actions on that day,” Johnson told the court, KSL said. “It was a very stupid mistake that I should have never made.”
Still, Judge Kristine Johnson noted that it “could have been much, much worse than it was” given that the cops escaped serious injury.
“I think that everybody involved knows that,” the judge said.
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