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In Utah, Accused Freeway Shooter's Ex-Colleagues Recall "A Great Guy"

By Robert Wilonsky in News You Can Actually Use, Actually

Wednesday, Dec. 24 2008 @ 11:32AM

From KSL-TV, the NBC affiliate in Salt Lake City, comes this piece about former Utah state trooper Brian Smith, accused of the Monday-night shootings on LBJ Freeway that left two dead. So happens Smith had given the station's crew a highway tour in his cruiser in March 2007, 14 months months before he resigned from the force following an incident involving guns, pills and drunk driving. --Robert Wilonsky

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

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9 comment(s) / Post a Comment

anonymous says:

I've known him casually over the last several months. From all appearances, he was a great guy who fell into a hole fueled by addiction and depression, although I didn't know about either problem.

Let's remember the Season we're in and also remember that he leaves behind a wife and 5 children whose own private hell is just beginning...

Posted On: Wednesday, Dec. 24 2008 @ 11:59AM

anonymous says:

The timeline seems off. From numerous media accounts, he resigned in May 2008 after an incident in January 2008.

Posted On: Wednesday, Dec. 24 2008 @ 12:03PM

Robert Wilonsky says:

Yes, you're correct. Thanks. The timeline is fixed.

Posted On: Wednesday, Dec. 24 2008 @ 12:06PM

Tim Covington says:

This shows the truly tragic side of addiction. Every police officer I know is against legalization of anything harder than marijuana (if they are even for that) for this exact type of situation. Police officers all to often see people who were leading great lives that are destroyed by addiction.

Posted On: Wednesday, Dec. 24 2008 @ 12:06PM

Billy Barnacle says:

From all the press reports, he sounds like a hero. I keep hearing what a good man he was and how sad it was that he became addicted to drugs.
Aren't a lot of murders connected someway to drugs?

Let's hear about how great the people were that he killed. How many kids did they leave behind? It just seems that every freaking time a cop or religious person murders, this city makes all sorts of excuses for them.

A murderer is a murderer is a murderer.
Can you imagine the shit he put people through when he was a cop?

Posted On: Wednesday, Dec. 24 2008 @ 12:41PM

scott says:

All the cops I know/n, and I've known quite a few, are sadistic. I have quite a few who are benignly sadistic, and known quite a few who were scary.

Those guys were quite sadistic, generally highly patriotic and religious. When we believe in an over simplified faith it becomes dangerous. Drugs can crack someone's psyche that was built on rigid faith.

Let us all doubt, and pause; before judging and attacking. Blind certainly is bad enough, when conflicted, coked-up, bankrupt and betrayed,... wow!

Posted On: Wednesday, Dec. 24 2008 @ 2:15PM

Toots says:

Cops are like everyday folks. Some are good and some are bad. Nothing will ever change that.

Posted On: Wednesday, Dec. 24 2008 @ 3:35PM

G. David says:

Yeah Tim, making drugs illegal has done SUCH a wonderful job of eliminating addiction.

Posted On: Saturday, Dec. 27 2008 @ 7:18AM

BTD Greg says:

I found out about this story on Facebook, of all places. (I didn't tune into local news during the holidays.) It turns out that I went to high school with the wife of this man, who shot and killed a motorist not ten miles from my house. Very strange story.

I feel very bad for the victims here, which include his widow and their five children. He obviously had some pretty deep problems. Not all drug addicts go on murderous shooting sprees. This is going to be a scare on the holiday season for at least three families. Really tragic.

Posted On: Sunday, Dec. 28 2008 @ 4:35PM