Boise settles lawsuit with officer alleging chief misconduct. Right here’s what the town’s paying
Town of Boise has settled a lawsuit with Boise police Sgt. Kirk Rush, who sought damages for the “alleged misconduct” of former Chief Ryan Lee throughout a 2021 coaching incident, in accordance with a Wednesday information launch from the town. Throughout court-ordered mediation within the case, the town’s insurance coverage supplier settled the case for $850,000.
Within the lawsuit, Rush, a member of the Boise Police Division’s Okay-9 Unit, alleged that in October 2021 Lee demonstrated a neck maintain on him with out consent throughout a coaching train, inflicting injures that later required surgical procedure, the Idaho Statesman beforehand reported. Rush claimed he had been at odds with Lee over deliberate coverage modifications to the Okay-9 unit, and that the neck maintain was a type of retaliation.
“Sgt. Rush believed that Mr. Lee accosted him on the briefing as a result of he had disagreed with Mr. Lee concerning the path of the K9 unit,” the lawsuit mentioned.
This incident was one in all a number of controversies that led to Lee’s ouster in late 2023.
In accordance with an audio recording of a dialog concerning the incident between Lee and Idaho State Police — beforehand obtained by the Statesman — Lee instructed ISP he was stunned to listen to that Rush was injured within the demonstration. He had aimed to indicate officers a variety of how to subdue suspects amid his considerations that the division was utilizing vascular neck holds too regularly, he mentioned.
Lee filed — after which withdrew — his personal lawsuit claiming that Rush was making an attempt to derail his profession by falsely accusing him of injuring his neck. Lee mentioned Rush’s allegations had prevented him from acquiring three “high-ranking” positions at different police departments across the nation, the Statesman reported.
Maria Weeg, a spokesperson for the town, instructed the Statesman in late 2023 that Rush had filed a employees’ compensation declare over the incident, which had been settled.
“Sgt. Rush has obtained the medical and different advantages to which he’s entitled, and the town is keen to pay for some other medical claims related along with his damage into the long run,” Weeg wrote in an electronic mail to the Statesman on the time. “We stay open to mediating any points Sgt. Rush and his legal professionals consider had been unresolved.”
In Could, Boise settled a lawsuit from its former director of police accountability, Jesus Jara, for $675,000. Jara claimed that his firing in late 2022 was in retaliation for his investigation into cops’ complaints in opposition to Lee.
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