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Jerri Hrubes alongside his son DJ at a press conference on Friday, June 7, 2019 in Salt Lake City. Hrubes calls for an independent investigation after stating that a policeman had pointed a gun at the head of his 10-year-old son as part of what she calls a racially-motivated incident. Hrubes said that a White Woods Cross policeman had fired his gun on his son, DJ, Black, while he was playing on the lawn in front of Thursday, June 6, 2019. She claimed that the policeman had come to apologize after calling to complain. but that she wants the agent and the agency to be held accountable. (AP Photo / Rick Bowmer)
SALT LAKE CITY – A mother wants an independent investigation Friday after learning that a Utah police officer had pointed a gun at her 10-year-old son's head as part of what she's calling a racist incident.
Jerri Hrubes said at a press conference that she had seen a white policeman from Woods Cross firing his gun at his son, DJ Hrubes, of black race while he was playing on the lawn from his grandmother Thursday north of Salt Lake City. She said that her son had no toys or objects in his hands.
The agent told DJ to get his hands up and down, she said. When DJ asked the agent when he had done something wrong, the agent told DJ not to ask questions.
Jerri Hrubes said that she had run outside the house and shouted to the officer: "What are you doing? It's a child of 10 years."
She says that the officer did not answer and got in his car and left.
Woods Cross police did not immediately return messages Friday about the events.
Police Lieutenant Adam Osoro told the Salt Lake Tribune Thursday that the officer had mistaken the boy for suspicious potential in the pursuit of two armed suspects. Policeman Osoro took out his gun after the child rushed to the side of the house. After getting close, the officer realized that Hrubes was not involved in the incident and left, Osoro said.
Osoro stated that the officer had acted appropriately in the circumstances.
Hrubes said that she immediately called the dispatch to complain about the officer's actions. The officer returned home later in the day. She said that he apologized and that DJ took him in his arms and told him that everything was fine. She stated that her son did not have "nasty bones in his body", that he was mentally retarded and that he had problems with his eyesight.
She tore up by telling the meeting and said that she was grateful to have taught DJ to grow to heed the officers' orders.
"I support all the police, I can see them," Hrubes said. "But, I'm not in favor of putting a 10-year-old man under the threat of a revolver without explanation. … Does he seem to have 30 years old? Does he look to be 18? No. "
She said that she did not necessarily want the officer to be fired, but that she wanted an external examination. She appeared alongside lawyer Karra Porter at the press conference, but said she was not considering any legal action at the moment.
Hrubes, a native of Montana, said she was visiting her mother in the city where she grew up: West Bountiful, a suburb of Salt Lake City. She said the incident had changed what she felt in Utah, a state in which African Americans make up only 1.4% of the population, according to US Census figures.
"As a white mother to a black son, I no longer feel safe in West Bountiful," said Hrubes. "It changed after yesterday, I do not think he's safe, he did not leave my sight, it does not look like that anymore."
Lex Scott, founder of Black Lives Matter in Utah, said his organization was demanding the dismissal of the police officer, failing which he would protest in front of the police agency's offices. She added that the group was also considering filing a complaint with the FBI's Civil Rights Division.
"Carrying a revolver on the head of a 10-year-old child will traumatize this kid all his life," Scott said. "The only excuse we will accept, is if this officer is fired."
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Morgan Smith, Associated Press writer, contributed to this story.
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