U.S. District Court Judge Tena Campbell issued a Memorandum of Decision and Order this week in the federal case of Rose Vallejo on behalf of her minor child versus Duchesne County Sgt. Carl Reilley, former Sheriff David Boren, and Duchesne County. On April 14th, 2017, Sgt. Reilley placed on the ground and handcuffed a 13-year-old autistic boy that had been peering into the windows of the library. Once another officer arrived and it was determined the boy had autism he was given a ride home. The boy’s mother, Rose Vallejo, filed a lawsuit on July 12th, 2017 asserting that her son had been detained without reasonable suspicion, was arrested without probable cause, and that excessive force was used during the incident. In response, the Sheriff’s Office posted the body camera footage and dash cam footage to the Duchesne County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page in July 2017. Sheriff Dave Boren also shared at that time that “a full and fair review” of the encounter had been conducted and that the panel concluded that Sgt. Reilley was reasonable in his use of force and acted appropriately with the exception of turning off his body camera. In this week’s document dated October 8th, 2019, Judge Campbell stated that “the court concludes Sgt. Reilley is immune from suit on the detention claim, but not on the arrest or excessive force claims. The court also concludes Chief Boren and Duchesne County cannot be held liable for Sgt. Reilley’s conduct.” Judge Campbell’s Memorandum of Decision and Order is a 23 page document, 16 pages of which provides analysis of the incident leading to the court’s conclusions.
