Police officer under investigation after teenager is injured
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CHUBBUCK — An investigation is underway after an Idaho Falls Police officer allegedly injured a 15-year-old boy in Chubbuck Saturday night.
EastIdahoNews.com received an email from a user claiming the boy was hospitalized after an officer with the Chubbuck Police Department attacked him. The person told EastIdahoNews.com the officer smashed a window in a vehicle where the boy was sitting, leaving 30 shards of glass in the boy’s eyes.
Chubbuck Chief of Police Bill Guiberson confirmed the altercation involving a law enforcement officer and a teenage boy. The incident, he said, occurred Saturday night around 11 p.m. at Cotant Park in Chubbuck. However, the officer, he said, no longer works in Chubbuck and has not for nearly a year.
The officer, who has not been named, currently works for the Idaho Falls Police Department, according to Guiberson.
“Due to it being a former employee of ours, we’ve reached out to an outside agency to conduct the investigation into the incident,” Guiberson told EastIdahoNews.com. “We handled the initial response, and kinda put things together and we’re handing that off to another agency to make sure it’s done in an impartial manner.”
The Idaho Falls Police Department issued a statement to EastIdahoNews.com concerning the unnamed officer.
“We are aware of an incident in Chubbuck on Saturday night involving one of our officers, who was off duty at the time,” IFPD spokeswoman Jessica Clements said in an email. “We are waiting for the investigation into the incident to be completed and support the investigative process. The officer has been placed on modified duty while we await the results of that investigation and can then determine the appropriate path forward.”
The Twin Falls Police Department, which was contacted by Chubbuck Police to handle the investigation, confirmed they are handling an investigation involving an incident that occurred in Chubbuck around 11 p.m. Saturday.
The Twin Falls Prosecuting Attorneys Office told EastIdahoNews.com that, as of Tuesday afternoon, it is unaware of the investigation or any possible charges.
The boy’s grandmother tells EastIdahoNews.com that the boy and a small group of teens tipped over a portable toilet at the park. An unnamed off-duty officer apparently observed the incident and became angry, she said. The man, who did not identify himself as an officer, attempted to stop the boy and two companions, according to the grandmother.
When the trio entered the vehicle they were using, the man allegedly threw a rock through the driver’s side window. With the victim in the driver’s seat, the glass shattered into his face.
The younger of his two companions, who is 12, ran to the boy’s home to inform his parents. The parents returned and the boy was taken to the emergency room, his father told EastIdahoNews.com. After more than four hours, over 30 tiny pieces of glass were removed from his eyes. It’s unknown what happened with the off-duty officer after the incident.
Doctors believe that all the glass was removed from the boy’s eyes, his father said, but that will not be confirmed until later this week when he visits an eye specialist.
The parents are seeking to have charges pressed against the officer, according to the boy’s grandmother.