SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Sept. 15, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — No criminal charges will be filed against the two Salt Lake City police officers who fatally shot a 38-year-old man in an exchange of gunfire following an armed carjacking in March 2022.
The Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office on Friday released its review of the March 26, 2022, officer-involved shooting death of Matthew Henry Cieslak, who had been firing a gun and attempting to carjack vehicles on the Interstate I-15 off-ramp to 600 South.
Cieslak was armed with an handgun when he carjacked a silver Hyundai Sonata, according to Salt Lake City police, who later spotted and pursued the vehicle.
The chase ended with the Sonata becoming high centered on a berm in a pipe yard near 220 S. Orange St., police said.
When two officers exited the unmarked police vehicle and drew their guns, Cieslak “immediately presented a handgun and began fire at the officers from inside the stolen vehicle,” according to the district attorney’s office report.
“Both officers began returning fire as they retreated, looking for cover. As the gunfight continued, [Cieslak] would continue to present his gun from inside the vehicle. [He] then exited out the passenger side and ran towards the officers, with the gun still in his right hand,” the report says.
Both officers fired again, and Cieslak fell to the ground, police said. Additional officers arrived, removed the handgun from Cieslak’s reach and began providing medical care, the report says. He was later pronounced dead at the scene.
Prosecutors concluded “there is no question that Mr. Cieslak unlawfully presented an immediate threat of death or serious injury to [the officers] throughout the encounter, and that the officers’ beliefs that they needed to use deadly force was reasonable.”
Cieslak fired at least eight 9mm rounds during the exchange of gunfire, while one of the Salt Lake City police officers fired up to 52 rounds and the other fired up to 26 rounds, according to the DA’s office.
