Police Officers Disciplined for Using Utility Knife on Dead Homeless Man’s Body, as Bodycam Footage Shows Them Laughing

Police officers in Salt Lake City were disciplined after body camera footage showed them using a utility knife on the body of a deceased homeless man.

On Friday, Feb. 28, the Salt Lake City Police Department (SLCPD) released bodycam footage of the August 2024 incident, during which several employees “mishandled” the body of 47-year-old Jason Lloyd, whose death was classified as “non-suspicious” by police.

According to an SLCPD press release, officers were called to a tent near Brooklyn Street and Washington Avenue for a death investigation at around 12:20 p.m. local time on Aug. 8.

“The SLCPD’s internal investigation revealed that an Office of the Medical Examiner (OME) contractor gave a SLCPD Officer-in-Training (OIT) a utility knife to cut blisters on Mr. Loyd’s right arm and the OME affirmatively authorized the SLCPD OIT to proceed,” the press release stated.

In the bodycam footage, a medical examiner contractor can be heard asking if they could do “controlled popping” on Lloyd’s body, and another investigator agreed. The contractor can then be seen handing the officer-in-training the knife.

The officer-in-training is next heard asking if it was a “prank,” before proceeding to cut Lloyd’s skin. Elsewhere in the footage, officers can be heard laughing.

Local outlet FOX 13 Now identified the officer-in-training as Dakota Smigel. Officers Mark Keep, Paul Mullenax and Michelle Peterson were also among the SLCPD employees, the outlet reported.

According to the press release from authorities, the officers told Smigel not to mention the knife in his police report. FOX 13 Now reported that initial drafts of Smigel’s report show that he did try to document his actions.

“Our investigation found that some of the conduct in this case was unprofessional, discourteous, disrespectful and offensive,” Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown wrote in the press release. “This behavior does not align with the professionalism and integrity we demand as a police department. I extend my deepest condolences to Mr. Lloyd’s family. Every person we encounter deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. Our decorum during death investigations must never again fall short of our core values as it did at times in this case.”

FOX 13 Now also reported that Keep violated eight department policies. He eventually resigned in lieu of any discipline. Mullenax, meanwhile, violated four department policies and received a three-day suspension, while Peterson violated two department policies and received a warning, the outlet added.

The violations for each of the officers included standard of conduct violations, death investigation procedure violations and report preparation violations. The SLCPD said of the seven employees placed on paid administrative leave, all but one have returned to work.

“Three SLCPD employees were exonerated of any misconduct after the conclusion of the internal affairs investigation,” the police press release stated. “The SLCPD imposed disciplinary actions ranging from a formal letter of warning to an unpaid suspension.”

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The Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office said on Feb. 14 that it would not be pursuing criminal charges for any of the officers.

As for Lloyd’s family, the release of the footage marked another difficulty in the wake of his death.

“When Jason passed away, we weren’t able to have an open casket, we weren’t able to have that closure that you usually get when a loved one passes,” Lloyd’s sister, Heather Fisher, told The Salt Lake Tribune. “And now our closure is seeing him on a bodycam video in a tent being treated that way.”

Lloyd “was homeless, but he was still loved,” Fisher added tearfully.

“He had a family, and he was still very deeply cared for. And they treated him horribly,” she continued. “We’re frustrated because this investigation has been going on since August and, as his family, we had no idea. We had no idea he was treated poorly. We had no idea he was disrespected. We feel like we’re grieving all over again.”