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Jack McGlothlin

Age : 37

Gender : Male

Race : White

Date : 08/30/2022

Location : Canal road between Powell and Cody

City : Powell

County : Park

State : Wyoming

Agency : Park County Sheriff’s Office

Officer(s) :Lt. Mark Hartman

Cause of Death : Gunshot

Event : Killed by police following attempted arrest and vehicle pursuit

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 08/30/2022, Park County Sheriff’s Office Lieutenant Mark Hartman shot and killed 37-year-old Jack E. McGlothlin on a canal road between Powell and Cody after Hartman attempted to arrest McGlothlin on an active warrant and then pursued him by vehicle. The case was investigated by the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation and eventually referred outside Park County for an independent prosecutorial review. That later investigation substantially expanded the sparse information released immediately after the killing.
Hartman encountered McGlothlin during the afternoon and confirmed over police radio that there was an active warrant for his arrest. According to Hartman’s account to investigators, McGlothlin recognized him and said that Hartman was not taking him to jail. Hartman said McGlothlin shoved him in the chest, got into his vehicle and drove away. Hartman then pursued him in his patrol truck along a canal road.
McGlothlin eventually stopped his vehicle. The sheriff’s office initially told the public that McGlothlin got out with a firearm pointed at Hartman and moved toward him. The later DCI investigation revealed that the encounter was considerably more complicated than that brief initial description.
According to Hartman, McGlothlin approached carrying a shotgun. Hartman got out of his patrol truck, went to the rear of the vehicle and retrieved his rifle. The two men then physically struggled. Hartman said he succeeded in taking McGlothlin’s shotgun away from him.
Hartman told investigators that after losing possession of the shotgun, McGlothlin attempted to take Hartman’s rifle. Hartman said he maintained control of the rifle with one hand while drawing his .40-caliber handgun with the other. According to Hartman’s account, he told McGlothlin that he did not want to kill him, and McGlothlin responded that Hartman would have to. Hartman did not provide DCI investigators with a more detailed account of precisely what occurred immediately before he fired.
Hartman shot McGlothlin twice in the chest at close range. Both bullets were fired from Hartman’s .40-caliber handgun. McGlothlin collapsed on the canal road.
The physical evidence provided some corroboration for a struggle between the two men. Investigators found DNA from both Hartman and McGlothlin on Hartman’s rifle and on McGlothlin’s shotgun. McGlothlin’s DNA was also found on Hartman’s neck. Investigators documented scuffing and disturbances in the sand and gravel where the confrontation occurred.
Other deputies were already responding while the confrontation was developing. Deputy Tyler Patterson and Undersheriff Andy Varian heard Hartman confirming McGlothlin’s warrant over the radio. Patterson abandoned a vehicle-identification-number inspection to respond, while Varian also headed toward Hartman because authorities knew McGlothlin could have access to firearms. Varian believed he heard Hartman call for help and subsequently heard Hartman report that a gun was being pointed at him.
Hartman then radioed that shots had been fired. Varian arrived first and found Hartman performing CPR on McGlothlin. Hartman had also placed a chest seal over one of McGlothlin’s wounds. Varian observed scratches on Hartman’s hand and discoloration around his neck. Patterson arrived shortly afterward and also observed redness on Hartman’s neck.
DCI Special Agent Jonathan Shane Reece documented McGlothlin lying partly on the canal road with at least one visible wound to the upper center of his chest. Investigators recovered two .40-caliber cartridge casings near his body. A 12-gauge shotgun was found near Hartman’s patrol truck along with a sleeve containing five additional shotgun shells.
Forensic pathologist Dr. Thomas Bennett performed the examination of McGlothlin on 09/04/2022 and determined that he died from two close-range gunshot wounds to the middle of his chest.
A significant limitation of the investigation was that there was no body-camera or dashboard-camera recording of the confrontation. Hartman was not wearing a body camera, and his patrol truck was not equipped with a dash camera. There was therefore no video recording independently showing the pursuit, the confrontation over the guns or the moment Hartman shot McGlothlin.
There was another important limitation: Hartman did not agree to provide DCI with a more formal interview about the shooting. Special prosecutor Dan Erramouspe later explicitly acknowledged that because no body or dash camera existed and Hartman did not sit for a more complete interview, his legal conclusion necessarily rested on Hartman’s statements to other officers at the scene, police radio traffic, the physical scene and forensic evidence.
DCI continued investigating for months. By November 2022, investigators were nearing completion of the case, and Park County officials announced that the investigation would be submitted to the county attorney and then to a special prosecutor for review.
Park County did not publicly identify either McGlothlin or Hartman until February 2023, approximately five months after the killing. The Park County Commission subsequently selected Sweetwater County Attorney Dan Erramouspe to independently determine whether Hartman’s use of deadly force was criminally justified.
On 06/07/2023, Erramouspe announced that Hartman would not face criminal charges. He concluded that the physical evidence corroborated enough of Hartman’s account to establish that Hartman reasonably used deadly force during the struggle. The decision specifically relied on the DNA evidence, physical evidence at the scene, injuries observed on Hartman, radio transmissions and the statements Hartman made immediately afterward.
The justification decision therefore did not rest on video evidence or an independent eyewitness account of the shooting. The fatal confrontation appears to have occurred with only Hartman and McGlothlin present, there was no body-camera or dashboard-camera footage, and Hartman declined a more extensive formal DCI interview. The prosecutor nevertheless concluded that the physical and circumstantial evidence sufficiently supported Hartman’s version to find the shooting legally justified.
No later wrongful-death lawsuit, settlement or subsequent official finding reversing the prosecutor’s justification decision was located during this update.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
Mark Hartman was a lieutenant with the Park County Sheriff’s Office and remains identified by the department as the lieutenant overseeing its Patrol Division. He is assigned to the Powell district.
Hartman had previously been named personally as a defendant in a federal civil-rights lawsuit arising from Park County law-enforcement actions. In Wilcox v. Magill, members of the Wilcox family and Wilcox Livestock sued Hartman, another deputy, Sheriff Scott Steward, the Park County Sheriff’s Office and others under 42 U.S.C. §1983 over the seizure of horses pursuant to a writ of execution that was subsequently modified. The federal district court dismissed the claims, and in 2012 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit affirmed the dismissal. The case therefore documents a prior civil-rights allegation involving Hartman but did not result in a finding that he violated the plaintiffs’ constitutional rights.
No separate reliably documented prior fatal shooting by Hartman was located. In McGlothlin’s killing, Hartman was the only officer present for the fatal confrontation and the only officer who fired.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://mybighornbasin.com/shots-fire-suspect-dies-in-critical-incident-with-park-county-sheriffs-deputy/
https://www.facebook.com/ParkCountySheriffCodyWY/posts/382011760772754
https://www.powelltribune.com/stories/dci-nears-end-of-investigation-into-deputy-involved-shooting-outside-powell,49868
https://www.codyenterprise.com/news/local/article_f6cafe72-a268-11ed-bab5-c33c03519819.html
https://cowboystatedaily.com/2023/06/07/wyoming-sheriffs-lieutenant-justified-in-killing-man-during-fight-for-shotgun/
https://www.wyodaily.com/story/2022/09/01/news/park-county-deputy-shoots-kills-armed-suspect/13591.html
https://www.ktvq.com/news/crime-watch/wyoming-deputy-shoots-and-kills-man-following-traffic-stop
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca10/11-8021/11-8021-2012-03-14.html