A young Utah law student was shot dead by police during a traffic stop — and his family now claim they learned about the gruesome murder through news reports.
Chase Allen, 25, was gunned down on March 1 by five Farmington Police Department officers as his blue BMW 3 Series was parked outside a local post office.
Police allege the situation escalated after Allen became non-compliant after being asked why his sedan had no license plates.
Stark photos taken soon after show Allen’s feet, clad in red hi-top sneakers, peeking out from the bottom of a gurney, as his bullet-riddled car parked nearby.
Allen’s family say they were unaware of his brutal death. They have accused the police of unlawfully killing their loved one and accused the police of a cover-up.
Family of Chase Allan, 25, say they are desperate for answers about circumstances surrounding his death at the hands of Utah police
In a statement to FOS 13Allan’s family said the death was “devastating and tragic” and they “have not yet gotten to see him.”
“The police are stopping us. Our family has not been allowed to see Chase and has not been approached by authorities or law enforcement with information regarding this investigation,” Diane Allan, Chase’s mother, wrote.
“Our family has not been properly notified of Chase’s death as a close relative. We found out about Chase’s death, along with the entire community, through news reporters and written articles online.”
Allan graduated from Davis High School in 2016, before playing football at UC-Davis and Utah State University.
His mother said he had been studying law for the past few years.
“(Chase) was a gracious, loving soul known to everyone in his community as caring, considerate and kind and would do anything for anyone in need,” she wrote.
“He was always selflessly helping and protecting others in need.”
The grieving mother said Allan had a “shy and quiet demeanor” but quickly made friends who she said will fondly remember him.
“He was always selflessly involved in helping and protecting others in need. He has studied law in recent years and was a patriot who did what he could to defend the liberty and freedom of the people in his community,” she said.
Allan was reportedly shot at 12 times by five police officers during what they have described as a routine traffic check when he failed to get out of his car
The statement claims that a few blocks before the stop, there was a request to have multiple officers on the scene. Police have not released any details about the case.
The five officers involved have been placed on administrative leave during an investigation – they make up 20 percent of the force.
Chase was living at home with his parents in the same town where he grew up at the time of the shooting.
“There’s a lot missing from this, right? What the circumstances were,” Chris Burbank, the retired Salt Lake City police chief, told the outlet.
At around 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Allan was pulled over in a post office parking lot for driving without a license plate.
A Farmington police officer called for backup and, according to police, Allan refused to leave the vehicle.
Officers said several shots were fired during the attempt to get him out.
“That’s how we train and I know my boys and when they fired shots I’m sure they feared for their lives,” Farmington Police Chief Eric Johnsen told FOX 13.
“I will argue that there is no license plate violation in this country worth the loss of a person’s life,” Burbank said.
Allan was shot in the car and later died in hospital.
Photos from the scene show the 25-year-old being taken to hospital on a stretcher, his car riddled with bullet holes. He died in hospital later that day
“It’s the government’s responsibility to tell the public what we’re doing,” Burbank said.
“This is not unique to just cities or issues. We see this and it really is a failure of our system that we can change.”
None of the Farmington police officers were injured and the Davis County Critical Incident Protocol Team has taken over the investigation.
DailyMail.com has contacted the police.
