Boise police chief accused of breaking sergeant’s neck

(Idaho Statesman) — A high-ranking officer within the Boise Police Department has filed a tort claim against Chief Ryan Lee and the city, alleging that Lee “caused serious and significant injuries” to the sergeant, according to a claim obtained by the Idaho Statesman through a records request.

Sgt. Kirk Rush, who has been with the department for 17 years, filed the claim on April 5, after he alleged Lee broke his neck in October during a morning briefing. The Idaho Press first reported on the tort claim.

“Sgt. Rush knew that Chief Lee had injured him as soon as he heard and felt the snap in his neck,” Rush’s attorney T. Guy Hallam wrote in the claim.

A tort claim is not a lawsuit but puts a government agency on notice. Idaho law requires a tort claim to be filed before an individual can sue the agency for allegedly violating state law.

Lee has held the top post at the Boise Police Department since July 2020, following a 20-year career with the Portland Police Bureau, where he rose to the rank of assistant chief.

Chuck Peterson, Lee’s attorney, said Rush’s claims were “completely untrue” and that he didn’t expect his client to pay any damages as a result. The city declined to comment.

On Oct. 12, Rush was in charge of running a briefing, where a number of trainees, civilians, Lee and Deputy Chief Tammany Brooks were present, according to the claim. Lee began to talk about an incident the prior week, when an officer used a lateral vascular neck restraint — a type of neck hold that was suspended from use within the department in June 2020 — to control a suspect.

Most commonly known as a “sleeper hold,” an officer purposefully puts pressure on a person’s carotid artery to cut off blood flow, which can cause a suspect to temporarily lose consciousness.

The tort claim alleged that Lee then told Rush to come to him. Lee did not warn Rush, according to the claim, or tell Rush he was going “to lay hands on him.” Additionally, Lee did not ask for permission to do so, the claim alleged.

“As soon as Sgt. Rush arrived at the front of the briefing room, Chief Lee grabbed the back of Sgt. Rush’s neck and forced him toward the ground,” according to the tort claim.

Lee then proceeded to hold his neck and physically move Rush around the briefing room by the neck, the claim alleged. During this time, Rush grabbed one of Lee’s arms to hold on to because he “had been forced to bend over for such a long period of time.”

Lee asked Rush to “try to stand up” while Lee still held him by the neck, according to the claim. Lee eventually released the hold, allowing Rush to stand up, the claim said.

Rush declined to comment. It is unclear from the claim whether the maneuver used on Rush was the sleeper hold he had discussed, or if the restraint is an option Boise officers can use again. Boise police spokesperson Haley Williams didn’t respond immediately to a question regarding the status of the technique.

Lee then struck Rush in the forehead, simultaneously forcing him to the ground, the claim alleged. Lee allegedly did so without permission or warning.

“Sgt. Rush’s neck hyperextended backwards and audibly cracked,” according to the claim. “Whatever physical strike Chief Lee used was a quick, violent and fast movement that forced Sgt. Rush backwards and toward the ground.”

After the alleged incident, the claim said Rush returned to his seat in the briefing room and listened as Lee continued to talk.

Lee turned to Rush while he was talking — in front of the entire Boise police patrol — and said, “What are you going to do now, fill out an SD1?” according to the claim. An SD1 is a form officers complete when they are injured on the job.

Over the course of five months, Rush and his attorney emailed back and forth with Boise’s human resources department to open an investigation into the incident, according to a timeline cited in the claim.

On Oct. 18, a member of Boise police’s command staff reported the issue to human resources, which prompted an investigation, the claim stated.

After a few failed attempts to arrange an interview, Hallam received an email from Boise’s legal department, stating there was “no pending HR inquiry into any incident involving Chief Lee and Sgt. Rush,” according to the claim.

After months of emailing, Hallam received a final response from another member of the city’s legal department on Feb. 28, according to the claim, which said the Office of Internal Affairs investigation into Lee was suspended until the criminal investigation concludes.

“Sgt. Rush does not serve this notice of tort claim lightly,” Hallam wrote in the claim. “Indeed, he has given the city every opportunity to address this issue short of this legal path.”

A member of Boise police’s command staff also reported the alleged incident to Idaho State Police. Unrelated to the tort claim, Clearwater County Prosecutor E. Clayne Tyler told the Statesman by phone that the office is overseeing a separate investigation into the allegations. The Idaho State Police is assisting in the investigation.

“The Ada County Prosecutor’s Office referred the matter to us because they were concerned regarding the appearance of a conflict,” Tyler said.

Rush has been in charge of the K-9 unit for over six years, according to the complaint. He believes “Lee singled him out” because of disagreeing opinions on how to run the unit.

Boise police K-9s are trained to “bite and hold,” according to the complaint. In the practice, the dog bites the suspect and doesn’t let go until its handler arrives. Rush credits the practice as a reason the unit has a 95% surrender rate — the percentage of suspects who surrender during incidents using the technique.

“The BPD K-9 unit is very proud of how the unit operates and how successful it is as a unit,” the claim stated.

But Lee is an advocate of the “bark and hold” program, according to the claim. With “bark and hold,” a dog will bite suspects only if they don’t surrender. According to the claim, the dogs and officers would need to be retrained to use the bark and hold technique, or the unit would “more likely” need new dogs.

The pair were expected to meet in late October to discuss the program.

Rush is still an employee within the department as of Friday, Williams told the Statesman by text.

Reporter Joni Auden Land contributed to this report.