Former Alexander officer Calvin Salyers, 33, surrendered to the Arkansas State Police last week for the fatal shooting of fellow cop, Scott Hutton, CBS 17 reports.
In the early evening hours of June 3, Hutton drove over to Salyers’ residence to pick up a patrol car which was parked close by. Before walking up to his front porch, Hutton attempted to text and call him on his personal phone, but didn’t get a response. Salyers and his girlfriend were inside the home watching a movie when they heard Hutton knocking on the door.
Salyers grabbed his gun before seeing who was knocking at his front door. When he looked through the peephole, Salyers couldn’t identify the person, but noticed the individual’s dark shirt and the gun on their hip. As Salyers opened the door, he fired one shot through the door, striking Hutton in the chest.
When Salyers called for an ambulance, he identified himself as an Alexander police officer, reported the incident as an officer down, and recognized Hutton as the victim in need of medical care. Salyers can be heard on the 911 call, saying, “All I seen was a gun, it was an accidental discharge.”
According to court documents, Salyers allegedly told fellow officer Sgt. Matt Wharton following the “riots in Minnesota” that if any protesters showed up at his home, he would “shoot through the door.” Wharton disagreed with Salyers’ stance, calling it “reckless and negligent.”
Salyers told investigators that he was trying to switch the gun to his other hand to greet the person at the door when the weapon fired. However, the affidavit reads that the bullet hole had contact residue, which would suggest that Salyers had his handgun pressed against the front door when the trigger was pulled.
Salyers has been charged with manslaughter. He had been an officer with the Alexander Police Department since 2017.
