Officer shoots driver in S.L. grove incident

A Metro Gang Unit officer shot and critically wounded a man in Memory Grove Thursday night after the man allegedly rammed the officer's vehicle with a pickup truck.

James Richard Davis, 50, was shot twice in the chest. He was transported to LDS Hospital, where he was in critical condition Friday.Officer Troy Siebert, who shot Davis, has been placed on paid administrative leave per department policy pending an investigation of the incident, Salt Lake Police Lt. Phil Kirk said.

Siebert is a Salt Lake officer assigned to the Metro Gang Unit. He has worked for Salt Lake City since 1990.

Siebert was apparently off-duty Thursday night when he was flagged down near North Temple and State about 8:45 p.m. by a pair of motorists who said a man in a small, gray pickup truck had rammed several vehicles and then drove away.

Witnesses said the truck was stopped in a northbound right lane at a signal on State when unexplainably, the driver rammed the car ahead of him and then the car behind him.

After several collisions, the driver drove onto the sidewalk and turned right onto Second Avenue, speeding toward Memory Grove into oncoming traffic, a Salt Lake police report states.

Siebert notified dispatchers that he was searching for the truck and spotted it parked near the bottom entrance gate to the grove.

"It appeared (the driver) had crashed through (the gates) and was attempting to leave Memory Grove," Kirk said.

With red and blue lights flashing, Siebert attempted to block the entrance with his otherwise unmarked police car.

The man then began to ram the police car with his vehicle.

Siebert got out of his car and moved toward the back for protection. Then the truck started forward, Kirk said.

"The officer, fearing for his safety, fired multiple rounds into the cab of the truck," he said. "It appears the driver was struck twice in the upper chest area and was transported to LDS Hospital in critical condition."

Sieibert was not injured.