CITYDESK CANDIDATE ANNOUNCES AT BOISE BIKINI BAR With a guy like Al Franken serving in the U.S. Senate, or Jon Stewart being the most trusted newsman in the nation, it may not be as far-fetched anymore for a comedian to take to politics. And that’s just what Pete Peterson of Boise aims to do. “Politics and comedy are not mutually exclusive,” he said. Peterson has set up shop at the Torch II, a Boise bikini bar and at various downtown and North End coffee shops and corner stores to plot out his campaign strategy, which amounts to courting high turnout for the 2010 GOP gubernatorial primary and not spending a lot of money doing it. We went up the hill to the Torch II out of curiosity last week and met with Peterson, who was staging a 12-hour campaign launch party. Peterson has been performing standup on stage since his retirement from state government work in 2006, including three trips to London and the United Kingdom, he says, where he even performed at the London Comedy Store. He used to do standup at the Funny Bone in Boise as well. Peterson traces his involvement in politics back to a 1994 People magazine article asserting that Larry Echohawk, now head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, was poised to become the first Native American governor. Peterson said he was pissed off that People would declare a winner in the Idaho race like that, so he signed up to work for Phil Batt, who won. Peterson rode the Idaho GOP campaign bus, which in past elections has traveled the state with a slate of Republican candidates. But then, as Peterson tells it, Batt doublecrossed him and did not allow him to appear on stage at the inauguration. Now he says it’s Gov. C. L. “Butch” Otter who has crossed him, appearing “disconnected” and “arrogant” as Peterson puts it. A manager at the Torch II made it clear that the bar was not endorsing anyone in the governor’s race and that Peterson was just another customer.
RISCH, CRAPO TO VOTE AGAINST SOTOMAYOR Idaho Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch announced their intended nay votes on Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. Risch said she was “a genuinely nice, smart and well-intentioned person,” but that he’s still not going to vote for her. Crapo said that she was evasive and misleading in her testimony. Here’s what Risch said, via e-mail: “I personally met with and interviewed Judge Sotomayor and discussed water law, the Second Amendment and several other matters. I reviewed her cases and I listened to her confirmation hearings and have determined I cannot support her lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court.” And from Crapo, who along with Risch criticized her Second Amendment stance: “Also troubling is that she has made statements acknowledging that her experience allows her to choose the facts she wants to see when determining a case, rather than applying the law. And she has repeatedly stated that U.S. judges may look to foreign law to interpret the U.S. Constitution and the laws of the United States to maintain our country’s standing in the world community.” —Nathaniel Hoffman
war in Iraq U.S. CASUALTIES: As of Tuesday, July 28, 2009, 4,332 U.S. service members (including 31 Idahoans) have died since the war in Iraq began in March 2003: 3,464 in combat and 868 from non-combat-related incidents and accidents. Injured service members total 31,454. In the last week, no U.S. soldiers died. Since President Barack Obama was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 103 soldiers have died. Source: U.S. Dept. of Defense IRAQI CIVILIAN DEATHS: Estimated between 92,519 and 101,006. Source: iraqbodycount.net COST OF IRAQ WAR: $668,680,959,178 Source: costofwar.com
10
| JULY 29 – AUGUST 4, 2009 |
BOISEweekly
NEWS
Got a hot news tip? E-mail news@boiseweekly.com
The BPD report on Gerald Amidon’s arrest identifies Officer Guy McKean as the Taser operator. BPD misspelled Amidon’s name in the report.
BRUTALITY SUIT Man stunned on butt sues BPD for excessive force
A
man who alleges that Boise police shocked him with a Taser multiple times, even after three officers had subdued him, has sued the City of Boise for breaching his Fourth Amendment rights by unreasonable search and seizure and excessive use of force. Gerald Amidon, 46, a Boise contractor, was at his girlfriend’s house on Valentine’s Day, trying to patch up the relationship, when Boise police arrived at the door, barged in without identifying themselves and quickly subdued him, deploying the Taser three to four times, according to a tort claim filed Monday with the City of Boise. Boise Police Officer Guy McKean is identified in the police report as the officer wielding the Taser; an audio tape of the arrest appears to indicate that it was McKean who stunned Amidon at least two times, and threatened to shock him further on his “asshole” and “balls.” Amidon has sued McKean, along with arresting officer Cory Bammert, officers Deidra Harr and Mark Abercrombie and supervising Sgt. George Stevens—identified only as “Officer #10” in the suit. The city is also named in the lawsuit. Amidon was arrested that night on suspicion of misdemeanor battery, unlawful entry and false imprisonment and will appear in court on those charges next month. Amidon will also appear in court on three other unrelated criminal cases in August and September, on charges including petit theft, driving without privileges, burglary and grand theft. Soon after Valentine’s Day, Amidon e-mailed Boise City Community Ombudsman Pierce Murphy, initiating an investigation into possible police brutality that was completed earlier this month. Murphy’s report concludes that the second use of the Taser against Amidon, after he was handcuffed and held down by three officers, was “neither reasonable nor necessary.” “The complainant came to me and before he came to me no one in the police department, below a certain rank knew this happened,” said Murphy, who reports to Mayor Dave Bieter and the City Council and serves a Boise police watchdog. Police Chief Mike Masterson, responding to Murphy’s report, called the excessive use of the Taser and the sexually explicit threats, “conduct unbecoming an officer,” an offense that often leads to termination. While McKean and Stevens were disciplined for their actions, Masterson would not divulge the nature of the punishment and confirmed that both officers had returned to regular duty. Boise Weekly requested comment from both McKean and Stevens but was told by Boise Police spokeswoman Lynn Hightower that only the chief would speak for the department about the Taser incident. Murphy’s decision to investigate initiated a separate internal probe, assigned to the Idaho State Police. The state police referred their findings to the Ada County prosecutor, who declined to charge McKean or any of the other officers involved. Recently released from a short stint in prison, Amidon recounts that he was trying to patch up his relationship with a girlfriend on Valentine’s Day. The two had breakfast that morn-
B Y NATHANIEL HOFFMAN
ing and agreed to meet up later. But later that evening, when it appeared that he may get blown off for the second date, Amidon went by the woman’s house—she was out with her 3-year-old son at the time—and spotted roses on the kitchen table, making him upset and jealous. According to his affidavit, Amidon then proceeded to enter the house and trash her room. Later that night, he tried to make up for his behavior, offering to clean up the mess. But by that time, the woman had called a friend, asking her to bring someone to beat up Amidon. According to Bammert’s police report, it was the friend who called the police, unbeknownst to Amidon or the woman. When police arrived and banged on the door, Amidon believed it was someone coming to “kick his ass.” Amidon alleges—and Murphy’s report confirms—that the four Boise police officers who first responded failed to identify themselves as police officers before barging through the front door and tackling Amidon. On a tape made by one of the officers, Amidon can be heard pleading with police and asserting that he thought it was the woman’s friends at the door. Murphy’s report finds that McKean, whom he calls “Officer #3,” may or may not have been justified in his first use of the Taser, but does not find that it was excessive use of force. However the second Taser shock, which Murphy identifies as being on the inside of the right butt cheek and the lawsuit claims was in the perineum and anogenital area, was found by the ombudsman to be excessive use of force. Amidon claims he was also stunned on the wrist, and possibly a second time on the butt, but Murphy found that McKean’s Taser had only been deployed twice that night, according to data stored on the Taser. Amidon does scream, “My hands,” at one point on the tape, which could be evidence of a shock to the wrist, the lawsuit alleges. The woman told police that she also thought it was her friend outside and that she asked Amidon to let her out to call them off because her cell phone was dead. Amidon held the door shut and did not let her out. The woman never told police that Amidon pushed her, but Bammert alleges in his report that through an opening in the door he saw Amidon shove the woman. Bammert’s report also states that Stevens met him at the Ada County Jail to interview Amidon and that both officers taped the interview. Murphy found that Stevens had erased his recording of the interview, which is against department policy. Stevens also told Murphy that he started, and then stopped recording the jailhouse interview and he told the ISP investigator that he did not record it at all. Murphy was able to recover the entire recording, however. Stevens also failed to investigate the use of the Taser and file a use of force report, Murphy found, also in violation of department policy. Amidon claims in the lawsuit that his career and income have been damaged by the incident, that he has suffered emotional distress and that he questions the prior respect he had for the police and the city. He is asking for $500,000 in punitive damages and has prepared a federal civil rights lawsuit that his attorney, Ron Coulter, will file within 91 days if the city does not respond adequately to the tort claim. “Right now, we’re asking the city to give justice to our client, and there’s a number of ways they can do it,” Coulter said. Read the lawsuit and police report at boiseweekly.com. WWW.BOISEWEEKLY.COM