SALT LAKE CITY - A new state audit released Tuesday has good and bad things to say about how the Salt Lake City Police Department has handled some high profile cases in recent years.

The audit praised the way the department handled last year's incident involving nurse Alex Wubbels. You probably remember the disturbing body camera footage where she's forcibly taken into custody after refusing to draw blood from an unconscious patient without a warrant. The audit says the department handled that internal investigation in a timely and proper manner.

However, the audit wasn't nearly as complimentary about how the department handled an incident from 2014, where former SLCPD officer, Eric Moustos, spoke out against covering the Utah Pride Parade.

"I felt extremely uncomfortable being a part of the celebration itself," said Moustos.

Moustos said he was misrepresented by the department he dedicated his life to for seven years. He says he asked to be reassigned after he was asked to participate in the Utah Pride Parade in 2014. A devout member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Moustos was shocked when he was suspended a few days later.

"They took my badge and my gun for discrimination," said Moustos.

He says it ruined his life after the department spoke out against him publicly.

"It was launched all over national media and that's when our whole lives went upside down. My wife and my family" said Moustos.

The state auditor seems to agree. The audit released says that some SLCPD management do not appear to understand the requirements of title VII of the Civil Rights Act.

The audit says in part, "when questioned when certain SLCPD management expressed the opinion that a request for excusal from assignment based on a religious need for accommodation was no different from any other request for excusal."

"I am happy that it’s bringing light on something that really needs to change because this issue is not going to go away," said Moustos.

In a written response to the audit, Salt Lake City Police Chief, Mike Brown, said he agreed with the findings.

Moustos later resigned from the department and doesn't feel like he can work in law enforcement anymore.

"I miss a lot of my brothers and sisters in blue. I miss that, I don’t know, brotherhood and a stable job," said Moustos.

Moustos now works in sales and wrote a book about the incident.

UPDATE: Salt Lake City Police confirmed the male suspect in Wednesday's officer-involved shooting has died.

Police identified the deceased Wednesday night as 32-year-old Delorean Pikyavit.

Sgt. Brandon Shearer of Salt Lake City Police said a call about domestic violence led to a SWAT response after the suspect barricaded himself inside his home. He said after about an hour the man came outside, “approached the officers and his actions required our officers to respond.”

The man was taken from the scene in extremely critical condition after being shot by police and later died.

The woman involved in the domestic violence call was already outside the home when the standoff began. Police said she and the suspect were in some kind of domestic relationship but did not elaborate. It was not immediately clear if the woman was injured during the initial domestic violence incident.

Watch Fox 13 News at Nine Wednesday for a live update on this developing story.

Previous story continues below:

SALT LAKE CITY - A man is in critical condition after he was shot by police officers responding to a domestic violence call at a home near 1100 East Princeton Ave. Wednesday afternoon.

Authorities said the situation started with a 911 call about a domestic violence incident and said when officers responded a male suspect barricaded himself inside a home and threatened to harm himself.

Sgt. Brandon Shearer, Salt Lake City Police, said after at least an hour in the home the man came out of the home, approached officers, and took actions that Shearer said prompted officers to fire shots.

The suspect was hit by gunfire and was taken to a hospital in extremely critical condition. It was not clear if he was armed or what actions he took prior to being shot.

Salt Lake City Police say that state law requires an outside agency investigate all officer-involved critical incidents, and that further updates on the incident will be forthcoming from West Valley City Police.

The shelter-in-place order has been lifted for residents and north and southbound traffic is open again on 1100 East.

The Salt Lake City School District said it is safe for children to walk home from nearby schools.

Fox 13 News will update this story as more details emerge.

SALT LAKE COUNTY – The Utah Gang Conference is an opportunity to spotlight those on the front lines who are making a difference in their community.

Detective Esekia Afatasi, known as Skee, is someone who has made an impact in helping kids stay away from gangs.

In 2009, Afatasi led the gang unit in Kearns and Magna.

“I started a localized gang unit which comprised of just patrol officers," he said. "I dealt with a lot of Polynesian youth. They came from great families and it was just a matter of trying to fit in.”

Pacific Islanders make up less than 2 percent of Utah’s population and compose 13 percent of Utah’s gang population.

“Gangsters don't discriminate—It's all about strength in numbers,” Afatasi said. “If you wanna join our gang, we're going to recruit you and it's sad that it's getting younger and younger every year.”

Afatasi, a Samoan, made it his personal mission to change that course by being a positive role model in his community.

“My goal like every other young Polynesian kid is to make it to the NFL," he said. "That goal didn't happen, so I wanted a good positive career.”

After graduating from West Jordan High and Snow College, he launched a career in law enforcement from the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office to the Salt Lake Metro Gang Unit and most recently he was transferred to homicide as a detective.

He says it’s a tough job, but he hopes he’s making a difference.

“If a kid can see that I can do it, I'm just like him, that's what drives me every day knowing I can be a change for good for a lot of our Polynesian kids,” Afatasi said.

When Afatasi is officially promoted to become a sergeant this year, he will be one of the first Polynesians to do so in Salt Lake County.

SALT LAKE CITY -- Four days after 15-year-old Baleigh Bagshaw was brutally killed inside her home in Salt Lake City, her mother spoke with Fox 13 News.

“She was a bright individual, she had dreams and she had a future—and that future has been taken away from us,” Shawna Bagshaw said.

Bagshaw recalled her last conversation with Baleigh on Monday afternoon. She said Bailegh would usually call her on her way home from the bus after school, and the pair would chat as she let her dogs outside and checked the mail for her mother.

“She had said OK, such and such a thing came in the mail, whatever, and then all of a sudden she started screaming and she didn’t say anything," Bagshaw said. "She was just screaming; my dogs were barking, and then I heard nothing."

Confused and terrified, Bagshaw called the bishop of her LDS congregation, who lives across the street from her. He called her other neighbor, who was home to check on Baleigh at the house.

That neighbor called Shawna, who told her to knock on the back door of the house.

“She proceeded to open the door and saw blood and called 911,” Bagshaw said.

Bagshaw told police who she suspected, 24-year-old Shaun French. She said French had lived with Baleigh, Shawna, and Shawna’s son in March to July of 2017. That is when French got to know Baleigh.

Salt Lake City Police confirmed French has a sexual relationship with Baleigh. She was only 14-years-old at the time, French was 23.

Police tracked French down in Colorado, and he is set to be extradited back to Utah, though that process has been delayed because French requested a Utah lawyer to represent him.

Shawna said Baleigh wanted to be in the United States Army or Marines one day. She said Baleigh also loved service animals and wanted to be a service dog trainer. She also enjoyed photography.

“I am not going to be able to see my daughter graduate from high school, or college; I am not going to be able to walk her down the aisle when she gets married; I am not going to see grandchildren from her," Bagshaw said. "Those are things I’m going to miss out on because she was taken too early from life.”

Bagshaw wants justice for her daughter.

“Right now, I am extremely angry," she said. "Maybe years down the road I can forgive, but right now I can't. He terrorized and harmed my child, and as far as I can say, I cannot forgive him for that."

Loved ones have created a GoFundMe page to assist Baleigh's family with funeral expenses.

SALT LAKE CITY – Part of a police officer’s job is to deal with people who have mental health issues—that’s why they undergo crisis intervention training.

The Salt Lake City Police Department held a training for officers enrolled in the Crisis Intervention Team Academy.

“It's a 40-hour academy where we cover mental health issues,” Det. Joseph Taylor said.

Officers acted out scenarios, based on calls the department has handled in real life.

From someone with PTSD or suicidal thoughts, to intellectual disability and dementia, they said it’s important to recognize the symptoms.

“They can be very difficult," Taylor said. "Sometimes they're straight forward, and sometimes they can be very complicated. So, when you're walking into it initially, you kinda don't know what to expect."

In one scenario, a woman believes her neighbors are spying on her.

“Immediately she thought the officers were part of it with their cameras there,” said Jessica Waters, a therapist.

The goal is to calm her down, but that’s not easy.

“We have to play it by our personalities, by what we say," Waters said. "One individual, they won't be set off by many things. Another person will be set off by every word you say. You have to be very gentle."

Once the officer gets the person to cooperate, it’s about finding a solution for today.

“It's not illegal to be mentally ill," Waters said. "It's a matter of when you're at risk of hurting yourself or someone else, or unable to care for yourself."

Ultimately, the officer can direct the person to long-term resources. But more importantly, they develop empathy for this vulnerable group.

“The hope is to have officers understand, yes, this is a policing issue, but also let's help this person because they're an individual just like I am,” Waters said.

SALT LAKE CITY -- A wrong-way driver speeding away from police crashed into a woman who was just miles away from her home, sending her to the hospital with serious injuries.

Tina Berry's loved ones are by her side and are having a difficult time comprehending how a tragedy like this could happen to their family twice in a matter of months.

"Pulling up on that accident I had no words; it was unbelievable to think she was smack in the middle of it," said Amanda Nisson, Tina's daughter. "Even knowing she was alive I questioned whether she was going to make it."

Thursday just after midnight, first responders forced open Tina's car door, putting her on a stretcher and into an ambulance.

"It broke my heart of how scared she must have been," Nisson said.

Tina was on her way home from work, only one exit away, when she was hit head-on by a wrong-way vehicle with no lights on traveling on SR-201. The driver was speeding away from police after a drive-by shooting in Salt Lake City.

When Tina's sister, Traci Green, found out what happened she said: "It was deja vu, the exact same thing happened to my son: exact," Green said.

This crash bringing to life a tragedy the family endured last January when Green's son, Michael, was hit by a wrong way driver, high on meth, speeding from police on State Street in a stolen BMW.

"It was that whole night all over again," Green said.

Michael left behind his mother, wife and two young children; and now Tina's life is changed forever.

"It's hard to even fathom. I don't get how this has happened twice in 16 months, I mean, that doesn't happen," Green said.

Tina's injuries are severe. She has bleeding in her brain that doctors say is under control, several spine fractures, and the family found out her spine is dislocated from her pelvis, which makes for a long and painful recovery.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the Berry family.

As for the people in the other car, there were four total: two with minor injuries and two others who ran from the scene. Police are still searching for those two.

SALT LAKE CITY -- The Department of Public Safety released the freshest crime stats across the state, outlining crime trends and what’s on the rise in Utah.

It shows all crime is up across the board, but there’s one blaring detail of note in the report that has nothing to do with any crime at all.

The statistics are from 2016. Meaning, the most recent crime data available for the state of Utah are two years old.

Homicides were up 42.59%, two years ago.

Violent crime in general also rose, 17.66%, two years ago.

$122,070,144 worth of property was stolen. 34 percent, or $42,355,059 of it, was returned—two years ago.

Arrests dropped by 4.18%. Two years ago.

“We're two years behind in getting crime reporting information into the hands of public officials like myself, and others who may need that data,” said Rep. Lee Perry, R-Perry.

DPS explained that a database conversion and staffing changes delayed the statistics. Normally they would have been released in the fall of 2017.

The now couple-of-years-old data shows crime was on the rise back then. But knowing that now, Perry indicated, doesn’t help departments or lawmakers in planning for the future.

“We know we have a population growth in Utah, and yet we have lesser law enforcement officers, we don’t have as many law enforcement officers on the street,” he explained. “So, what we're seeing is that crime may be increasing, and we're not keeping up with that.”

A WalletHub study released this week shows Utah ranks #49 when it comes to number of law enforcement officers per capita.

“We are extremely low,” Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera said, of that statistic.

She said crime statistics and trends are essential in telling them where to plan for staffing, and how much extra staff to request at budget time.

“If we can look at the trends and see where things are headed, we’ll know what type of detective—if we need to increase there, if we need to increase in patrol,” Sheriff Rivera explained.

They look at Salt Lake County numbers every quarter, she said, to keep up with trends.

But for those two-year old state numbers?

A new law Perry helped back in this year’s legislative session took effect on May 8. It requires every agency to report their crime numbers monthly.

“If we do it monthly, it'll be a lot more accurate,” he said.

According to the Department of Public Safety, the crime report for 2017 is expected to come out this fall. But for 2018, Perry expressed that the goal with the new law is to move that timeline up.

“Come January 2019, we can expect to see the 2018 report,” he said.

DPS said it would like to publish state crime statistics every quarter, and eventually in real-time as the numbers are reported.

SALT LAKE CITY — About 20 police officers from Salt Lake City traveled to the Evanston, Wyoming area this week and searched a landfill to locate evidence connected to a homicide investigation.

According to Salt Lake City Police, officers following up on tips related to the murder of a 15-year-old girl in Salt Lake City conducted a coordinated search of the Uinta County Landfill near Evanston, Wyoming.

Homicide victim identified as 15-year-old Baleigh Bagshaw. Source: Facebook.

Police say that more than 250 staffing hours were dedicated to the effort, which resulted in the recovery of evidence. Police say the are not able to disclose the nature of the evidence that was found at this time.

Baleigh Bagshaw, 15 of Salt Lake City, was murdered May 7 in Salt Lake City, and her mother may have heard part of the attack over the phone. 

Shaun French, 24, was arrested in Colorado and is a suspect in Bagshaw’s death. Police say Bagshaw and French previously had a sexual relationship and that there were warrants out for French’s arrest for unlawful sexual activity with a minor.

Fox 13 News will update this story as more details emerge.

SALT LAKE CITY - When officers and a skate boarder came together Tuesday night at a park in Sugar House, things got nasty real quick.

“He used two hands to push him to the ground,” said an upset Mason McMahon, a skater who saw the whole thing.

“This kid comes to the park, and I don’t even know how old he is, maybe 10,” McMahon said. “The kid dropped his pants at the park and his mom said he’s special ed, so it’s OK. He told the kid to pull his pants up, and the little kid told his mom he was being harassed.”

“We were called to the park around 8:30,” said Detective Brian Ungricht with Salt Lake City Police. “The call was simply because we had one juvenile harassing another juvenile. Our officers arrived on scene and made contact, and he was very uncooperative and unwilling to work with law enforcement.”

A cell phone video that captured the five-minute interaction with Salt Lake City police was shot by a friend of McMahon who was at the park.

“I just don’t think he thought he did anything wrong,” McMahon said of her friend. “He felt he didn’t need to answer any of their questions, which is understandable, but it could have gone better if he had cooperated.”

Her friend, a minor, was taken to the ground and detained, and another man who came to his defense was arrested.

“I think both sides could have handled it differently,” McMahon concluded.

SALT LAKE CITY -- Undercover officers arrested almost 50 people in a prostitution sting in Salt Lake City, where police posed as ‘Johns’ looking for prostitutes.

Dozens of women made agreements with men that they had no idea were police. Undercover officers also walked the streets, with female officers making deals with unsuspecting ‘Johns.’

“When we put our girls out they generally don't spend more than 5-10 minutes out before they have someone hitting them up,” said one of the undercover officers.

That's something Fox 13 crews saw firsthand during a ride along with Salt Lake City police. Click on the video to see the arrests officers made in just an hour.

HERRIMAN, Utah – Police say a woman in Herriman was operating an unlicensed massage service out of her home and exploiting prostitution.

Hailey Barbara Dering, 28 of Herriman, was charged after an undercover operation conducted by Salt Lake City Police in October of 2017.

An undercover detective responded to an ad on Backpage.com “which advertised activities with up to four women at once.”

The detective was given an address in Herriman, where he met Dering and was taken to a basement room with a massage table set up. The detective gave her $400, and she said that would cover a massage from two or even three women along with “extras” at the end.

Dering and another woman began massaging the man, and Dering said she only provides massages but that other women would “stay afterward and take care of what he wanted.”

Dering eventually left the room while the second woman remained. A third woman later arrived and agreed to have sex with the detective for money, at which point other police intervened.

Dering told police she does not have a massage license and pays the mortgage on the home, where multiple women were providing massages. Dering said she knew the women working out of her home were providing “happy endings” and she said she shared in the profits from the services offered at the home.

Dering was indicated May 31 on one count of exploiting prostitution as a third-degree felony and one count of unlawful massage therapy as a class A misdemeanor.

SALT LAKE CITY — One person suffered minor injuries after a shooting in Salt Lake City early Wednesday morning.

Salt Lake City Police say they responded to the area of 300 South Foss Street around 12:13 a.m. after a man arrived at that location in a vehicle and witnessed a shooting.

The witness reported that when he arrived he saw the occupants of two vehicles involved in some sort of conflict before the shooter fired at the victim’s vehicle.

A bullet struck the trunk of the victim’s car and went through the vehicle before ultimately hitting the victim in the upper leg.

Police say the bullet did not penetrate but left a bruise. The victim was treated at the scene.

The suspect vehicles fled the scene and police say neither the witness nor the victim were able to provide a description of the suspect.

The parties involved have not been identified.

SALT LAKE CITY — Sean Kendall has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear an appeal of his lawsuit over a Salt Lake City police officer who shot and killed his dog.

Kendall’s attorney, former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, filed a petition for certiorari with the nation’s top court on Friday, asking the justices to decide an issue of Fourth Amendment exemptions.

“Certiorari is warranted here to resolve the split of authority and to clarify the proper scope of the ’emergency aid’ exception to the warrant requirement of the Fourth Amendment, particularly in instances of missing children and other missing vulnerable people,” Anderson wrote.

Kendall sued Salt Lake City police after his dog, Geist, was shot in 2014. A police officer was searching for a missing child and wandered into Kendall’s backyard, where he startled Geist. The dog ran at the officer, who shot and killed him. The child ultimately was found — inside his own home.

The shooting sparked protests against police, who have made policy changes.

Kendall’s lawsuit has been rejected twice now, by a district court judge here in Utah and the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. But Anderson argued that the federal appeals court has given police broader powers now than what is legally allowed.

“Based on the authority of the new standard announced by the court of appeals and the district court in this case, police will now have license to engage in searches for missing people based simply on access and proximity, even when the police have no
objectively reasonable basis for believing (1) any missing person is on the particular premises to be searched or (2) that the particular places actually searched have some connection to the emergency,” he wrote.

The U.S. Supreme Court receives thousands of petitions for certiorari every term, but only agrees to hear a handful. It will be months before the justices announce which cases they will hear.

Read Kendall’s petition to SCOTUS here:

SALT LAKE CITY  — Police in Salt Lake City used a Taser to subdue a man who ran into traffic on 500 South after officers responded to a report of aggressive panhandling Monday night.

According to the Salt Lake City Police Department, officers responded to a Chevron at 504 South and West Temple just before 6 p.m. Monday on a report of a man who was trespassing and aggressively panhandling.

Police say when they made contact with 39-year-old Jeremiah Turley, the man fled and ran into traffic on 500 South “nearly causing several accidents.”

Officers said they believed the man posed a significant threat to himself and others, so they deployed a Taser to subdue the man.

Turley was taken into custody and medically evaluated before he was cleared and booked into jail for fleeing, trespass, providing false information and for existing warrants.

SALT LAKE CITY — A man was arrested for attempted robbery after police say he approached a stopped semi truck and demanded the driver drop his loaded semi off at the suspect’s home.

According to the Salt Lake City Police Department, a semi truck driver was stopped in the parking lot of a Rite-Aid in the area of 190 North and 900 West Saturday around noon.

Police say 32-year-old Ian Golden approached the driver and “made demands for the driver to drop his loaded semi at the suspect’s residence.”

The driver believed he saw a gun in Golden’s pocket, so he called police. The suspect fled on foot.

Responding officers were flagged down by a couple who told police their relative was acting strangely. Police determined that relative was the suspect from the initial call, and Golden was booked into jail on a charge of attempted robbery.

Police say no weapon was found when they arrested Golden.

SALT LAKE CITY — They owned the joke about cops and donuts in their contribution to a nationwide lip sync challenge between police departments.

Salt Lake City police released this video on Thursday, giving a sometimes-emotional tribute to Banbury Cross donuts set to Miley Cyrus’ hit “Wrecking Ball.” Officers rode a tire swing made to look like a donut.

Across the nation, police agencies have crafted sometimes elaborate videos with officers and staff lip synching to pop song hits. SLCPD challenged its colleagues at Cottonwood Heights, Sandy and Unified Police to keep their own videos going.

Watch the video here:

SALT LAKE CITY — Two people were taken to hospitals after a crash involving a UTA bus and another vehicle in Salt Lake City Friday morning.

Salt Lake City Police confirm the crash occurred in the area of 3rd Avenue and L Street in Salt Lake City. Fox 13 News first heard report of the crash around 10:30 a.m. Friday.

Carl Arky, a UTA Spokesman, said two people inside the passenger vehicle were taken to hospitals but he did not have specific information about the extent of their injuries.

There were no injuries reported among the occupants of the bus.

Arky said the cause of the crash is still under investigation.

A photo from the scene shows damage to an SUV and the UTA bus after the impact, and it appears both vehicles sustained damage to their windshields.

Arky said the bus route in question is back in service and said in these cases they generally bring in a different bus to service the route.

SALT LAKE CITY — A police officer was taken to a hospital early Monday morning after a foot pursuit and altercation with a suspect.

Lt. Yvette Zayas with Salt Lake City Police said they were looking for a suspect in connection with domestic violence when an officer spotted a man who matched the description near 100 South and 500 West.

According to a police watch log, that man fled from police on foot, and police deployed a K9. The suspect fell to the ground but did not comply with commands to surrender and resisted arrest.

Police say the arresting officer suffered a forearm injury and was taken to a hospital to be evaluated.

Police say it turns out the suspect was not the person they were seeking in connection with domestic violence, but the man had fled from the officers because of existing warrants.

The suspect, 35-year-old Keith Fulcher, was taken to a hospital and was treated for a dog bite before being booked into jail for the existing warrants. He faces new charges of fleeing, assault on a police officer and possession of a controlled substance.

Fox 13 News will update this story as more details emerge.

SALT LAKE CITY -- A natural gas leak in downtown Salt Lake City is affecting TRAX service and causing road closures.

Salt Lake City Fire stated shortly after 9:30 a.m. Main Street is closed between 500 South and 700 South due to a gas leak investigation at the Grand America Hotel.

By about noon the closure was down to Main Street between 500 and 600 South. Crews have isolated the leak and Dominion Energy is working to repair the leak.

Fire officials say that while evacuations were ordered initially at the Grand America Hotel, those have been halted as the "situation is under control." Officials say the leak is underground and is not affecting people in the area, but they are still containing the area while the repair is underway.

UTA says a bus bridge is in effect because TRAX trains cannot cross 600 South and Main due to the gas leak. The bus bridge is in effect from Courthouse to 900 South, and delays are possible on all TRAX lines.

Fox 13 News will update this story as more details emerge.

SALT LAKE CITY — Police say a man was stabbed in the face during a robbery in Salt Lake City Thursday night.

Det. Horrocks of the Salt Lake City Police Department says they were called around 9 p.m. Thursday about a robbery at the Village Rain Tree apartments near 870 North 900 West.

Police say a man answered a knock at his door, at which point a man and woman assaulted him. The man was stabbed in the face during the attack and afterward was taken to a hospital with injuries described as not being life-threatening.

The suspects stole cash and electronics before fleeing the scene. Police say they were called about the crime several hours after it occurred.