Boise police chief discusses shooting of man walking on I-184: ‘Officer felt threatened’

A Boise police officer shot and injured an adult man on the Interstate 184 Connector near the Flying Wye on Tuesday.

The Boise Police Department said in a news release that people called Ada County Dispatch at 9:40 a.m. reporting that a person was “walking in the traffic lanes on the freeway.”

An officer responded to the call, and police alleged that the person “refused officer commands” and had a weapon, which caused the officer to fire his weapon. The man’s injuries were not life-threatening, and he was taken to a local hospital.

Boise police, in an updated news release, said charges against the man are pending, and he was expected to be booked into the Ada County Jail upon his release from the hospital.

The officer, who has not been identified, wasn’t injured. He was placed on paid administrative leave, which is the department’s standard policy after a shooting.

The incident stalled traffic near the Flying Wye. Boise police tweeted at 10:04 a.m. that all westbound traffic on I-184 was being diverted west to Meridian and that the flyover was closed going east. By 12:52 p.m. all lanes were reopened on I-184, police said.

This was the first police shooting in the Treasure Valley in 2023. In 2022, out of the seven police shootings in the area, the Boise Police Department was involved in three.

Few details released at afternoon news conference

Interim Boise Police Chief Ron Winegar said the man walking on the freeway presented a “life-threatening situation.”

“This was dangerous for the individual for officers responding as well as for drivers passing by,” Winegar said at a news conference. “There was an urgent need to make contact with that individual to prevent injury to him or to others.”

The police chief did not know whether the man was still in the traffic lane when officers arrived or was standing outside of it near the Jersey barrier.

When an officer attempted to make contact, “the subject continued walking away and refused commands,” Winegar said.

“He eventually turned and came towards the officer,” Winegar said. “He ultimately produced a weapon and did not follow commands given by the officer that was closest to him.”

At that time, the officer fired his gun. Winegar said the man was given aid at the scene before being taken to the hospital.

The Ada County Critical Incident Task Force was activated, as protocol demands when a police officer is involved in a shooting. The task force will investigate the incident and decide any related charges. The investigation is already underway, Patrick Orr, Ada County Sheriff’s Office public information officer, told the Idaho Statesman in a phone call.

When asked whether a mental health professional was called to the scene of the shooting, Winegar said “there simply wasn’t time.” He said it wasn’t feasible to “get a professional mental health counselor out onto the freeway while cars are whizzing by 60 miles an hour.”

Winegar declined to comment on the type of weapon the man produced, whether the man said or did anything in addition to producing a weapon, or where the man’s gunshot wound was.

“Certainly just producing a weapon in and of itself, depending on the weapon, can be grounds for use of deadly force,” Winegar said. “I will not comment specifically on what his actions were at this time. But suffice it to say, the officer felt threatened by the subject or he would not have fired his weapon.”

Winegar said he did not know the age of the man who was shot or the number of years the officer involved had been on the police force.