Valley County Prosecutor Brian Naugle determined that the Boise Police officer who shot at and injured an Idaho Department of Corrections (IDOC) officer was justified under the law.
The prosecutor reviewed video of the incident as well as the complete investigation conducted by the Ada County Critical Incident Task Force (CITF) led by the Ada County Sheriff’s Office.
A brief description of the event from the Prosecuting Attorney is included below and the entire letter is available here.
As this unfortunate situation unfolded, two of the approaching Boise Police officers were able to briefly observe the IDOC officer with the gun and believed, based on the information provided, that he was the suspected shooter. The IDOC officers were wearing tan pants and black shirts but because of their position of cover, which prevented any view of the small insignia on their shirts and because they had not notified dispatch, the Boise Police Officers had little reason to believe that they were law enforcement. Thus, one of the officers who was carrying a tactical rifle, fired on the subject with the gun inside the emergency room twice, striking the wall near where the officer was standing. This resulted in one of the IDOC officers being struck with shrapnel and/or debris from the shots.
The public CITF report will be available in the coming weeks here under the date March 20, 2024.
A video report, with on-body camera video, is available here. The full-length version of the on-body video used to create the linked video report is available upon request free of charge through BPD’s public records request process.
As with all critical incidents, the Boise Police Department conducts an administrative investigation. The City of Boise Office of Police Accountability (OPA) also performs an independent review and issues a public report.
BPD has reviewed the OPA report and its recommendations. BPD’s internal review made very similar recommendations, and BPD continues to enhance its training and procedures. The OPA report is expected to be released publicly today.