Man shot by police faces even longer list of charges
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BLACKFOOT — Court documents show a man who allegedly tried to run over law enforcement had recently shot another man with a stolen gun.
Nathaniel Alberto Harper, 23, faces a slew of charges from multiple incidents in Bingham County over the previous months, even after he was booked into jail.
Among Harper’s cases is a grand theft charge in which Harper allegedly stole a handgun from a person’s car. Court documents in the case indicate Harper used the gun to shoot a man in August at the sportsman’s access on West Bridge Street in Blackfoot.
In October, a woman contacted the Bingham County Sheriff’s Office and said someone stole her 9mm handgun between June and July from her unlocked car. Deputies already had possession of the stolen gun when investigating the August shooting.
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While Harper camped by the sportsman’s access, deputies reports show another man shot Harper with a slingshot. Harper reportedly shot his attacker with the stolen handgun and told investigators he hid the firearm along the river. On Sept. 2, deputies found the stolen gun — weeks before the woman reported it missing.
Court records do not indicate who the man with the slingshot was, and deputies have not released his name. According to a previous news release, that man was taken to a local hospital and released.
The first attempt to arrest Harper
Local law enforcement knew Harper and knew he had a misdemeanor warrant for not showing up to court. On Nov. 12, a Blackfoot City police officer spotted Harper parked on Cone Street. The officer told Harper to get out of the car, but according to an affidavit of probable cause, Harper began driving away.
“I stepped out in front of his car and ordered him to stop the car,” an officer writes in court documents. “He continued to drive (sic) till had to quickly jump out of the way, or he would have struck me. Then fled the scene in his car.”
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An officer-involved shooting
With Harper in the wind, the warrants stayed and deputies and police still looked for the man. On Nov. 23, just before 11 a.m., the Blackfoot and Bingham County Joint Detective Team learned Harper might be at a storage unit on the 400 block of U.S. Highway 26, according to court documents.
Investigators knew Harper had two misdemeanor warrants and a history of almost hitting law enforcement with his car.
Six law enforcement officers spotted Harper at the storage units inside a black Honda Civic. After deputies and police told Harper to get out of the car, Harper reportedly drove toward a detective and a deputy. The two fired their guns, hitting Harper in the shoulder area.
Harper then got out of his car and ran into a neighboring trailer court, where law enforcement took him into custody, according to court documents. Harper was then taken to a local hospital before being booked into the Bingham County jail.
The shooting remains under investigation by the Eastern Idaho Critical Incident Task Force. Prosecutors will determine if deputies and police were legally justified in shooting Harper.
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A struggle at the jail
The day after the shooting, Harper was in the booking area yelling and screaming and needed to make his initial appearance for court. Deputies placed Harper into a holding cell until the judge told deputies they needed him back to a room to appear over a camera.
Deputies write in a probable cause that Harper refused to come out of the cell. With Harper not wanting to listen, deputies placed the inmate into a wheelchair so he could appear for court. As deputies tried wheeling Harper to the room with the camera, court documents indicate he stuck his feet out and grabbed equipment in an attempt to keep the wheelchair from moving.
Deputies eventually got Harper into the room, but he allegedly hit a deputy in the face. A struggle followed until deputies restrained him.
The charges
Now Harper faces the following charges:
- For the stolen gun used to shoot the man with a slingshot, Bingham County prosecutors charged Harper with felony grand theft.
- For the Nov. 12 incident with deputies, Harper is charged with felony assault upon an officer and misdemeanor charges of eluding and resisting arrest.
- After the Nov. 23 officer-involved shooting, Harper is charged with two felony counts of assault upon officers, felony eluding and two misdemeanor counts of resisting arrest.
- The jail incident got Harper charged with felony battery of an officer and misdemeanor resisting.
If convicted of all counts, Harper faces over 40 years behind bars.
Harper is next scheduled in court for a preliminary hearing on the jail assault on Dec. 9 at the Bingham County Courthouse.