Woods Cross Cop Won’t Be Fired After Pulling His Gun on DJ Hrubes, a 10-Year-Old Black Boy, Playing in His Grandmother’s Yard

Woods Cross, Utah, Police Chief Chad Soffe has informed the public that the officer being investigated for pulling his gun on DJ Hrubes, a 10-year-old Black boy, will not be fired. He defended the white officer’s action stating that the officer believed the little boy was an armed suspect.

This past Thursday, DJ was playing outside of his grandmother’s house when an unidentified police officer mistook him for a shooting suspect described as Black, Hispanic or Polynesian. DJ Hrubes is a dark-skinned Black boy.

Hispanic males are not typically identified as Black nor are Polynesians. So the officer’s “judgment” was already questionable. He approached the child with his gun drawn and demanded DJ to put his hands in the air and to get on the ground.

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Blacks make up 1.4% of the population and DJ’s mother, Jerri Hrubes, who is white, feared for her son’s life. While lying face down on the ground, DJ Hrubes even asked the officer if he had done something wrong. The cop ignored him. It wasn’t until DJ’s mother ran out of the house screaming at the officer that he left — still never responding to the question.

 “What are you doing? This is a 10-year-old child,” exclaimed Jerri Hrubes.

But that’s not the story the Woods Cross police department told. Chief Chad Soffe said, ” The officer mistook the boy for a potential suspect, but used good judgment overall. When he realized he was wrong, he let the boy go.”

That’s right. The incompetent officer let DJ Hrubes go after pulling a loaded weapon on him and his mother stopping the situation from escalating.

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Jerri Hrubes called dispatch immediately following the incident to complain about the officer’s actions. He ended up coming back to the home, returning to apologize.

DJ, who was described as a sweetheart by his mother, hugged the officer and forgave him. DJ Hrubes is developmentally-disabled and also partially-blind.

“I support all police officers. I see good in them,” Hrubes said. “But, I do not support putting a child of 10-years-old at gunpoint with no explanation. . . Does he look like he’s 30? Does he look like he’s 18? No.”

Surprisingly, his mother doesn’t want the officer fired for harassing her 10-year-old son she but does want the situation investigated.

 

 

 

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