An Arkansas police officer who threatened to shoot Black Lives Matter protesters was charged for fatally shooting his colleague who knocked on his door.
Alexander Police Officer Calvin Nicholas “Nick” Salyers was charged with manslaughter on July 8 for the shooting death of fellow Alexander Police Department cop Scott Hutton, according to the Arkansas State Police.
Hutton arrived at Salyers’ home just after 7 p.m. on June 3 to pick up a police cruiser that was parked in a metal structure next door, according to an arrest affidavit written by Arkansas State Police Special Agent Ryan Jacks. The 36-year-old called Salyers and didn’t get an answer so he sent a text to check if his colleague was awake. Hutton made his way to the home and knocked on the door, the document states.
Salyers was on the couch watching a movie with his girlfriend and told her he’d answer it. He grabbed a Glock .40 handgun before he went to the door. When Salyers looked through the door, he allegedly saw “a figure standing on his porch with a dark shirt and a gun on his hip.” Hutton was wearing a black polo-style shirt, tactical khaki pants and a gun belt. His police badge was next to his service weapon.
Salyers would tell investigators he transferred his gun from his right hand to his left so he could open the door. When he reached for the doorknob, the affidavit states, the gun went off.
Hutton was hit once in his upper right chest, where the bullet went through his heart before wedging itself in the left side of his body, Jacks wrote. Salyers later said he realized it was Hutton when he saw him fall off the porch. Hutton was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead, per the Arkansas State Police. During the 911 call after the shooting, Salyers allegedly told the dispatcher “all I seen was a gun, it was an accidental discharge.”
The arrest warrant states when the George Floyd protests started in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Salyers told Alexander police training officer Sgt. Matt Wharton he would “shoot through the door” if demonstrators showed up on his doorstep. Wharton told Jacks he scolded Salyers for making the comment.
“Sgt. Wharton told me that he instructed Officer Salyers that he could not do that because it was reckless and negligent,” Jacks wrote. “Wharton stated that they could not shoot anyone without identifying them first and identify(ing) that there was a threat.”
When investigators examined the scene of the shooting, the bullet hole was attention-grabbing, according to Jacks.
“The bullet hole appeared to have contact residue, which indicated that the weapon was pressed against the door when fired,” he wrote.
Salyers turned himself in on July 8 and a judge set a $15,000 bond. He was released that day.
