Rancher’s wife: ‘I saw them murder my husband’

[7962]

Source: Miami Herald

The family of an Adams County rancher involved in an encounter with two sheriff’s deputies says the deputies killed him in a “completely unjustified” shooting.
Survivors of Jack Yantis, the 62-year-old who died a week ago in the darkness on U.S. 95 north of Council, say they will pursue claims against Adams County for Yantis’ death.

Donna Yantis spent her 63rd birthday Thursday at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, where she has been recovering from a heart attack she suffered after her husband was killed. Provided by the Yantis family
Family members have shared with the Statesman their account of what happened last Sunday night. The account is in written statements prepared with attorneys the family hired after the incident, a video statement Donna Yantis made from her Boise hospital bed, and a draft transcript the lawyers prepared of one family member’s account of what happened.

The Statesman also interviewed several family members, including Rowdy Paradis, a nephew of the couple’s who said he witnessed the shootings.
“Law enforcement should be trained to de-escalate situations,” said Rowdy Paradis. “In this case, I stood 10 feet away and watched two deputies escalate the situation and needlessly kill a man.”



Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article43673037.html

---

Once again, taxpayers are going to shell out millions for this arrogance.

[kristopher]

1. I really hope there is more to it ...

Because if this narrative is accurate, those deputies are monsters.

[cui bono]

6. +1

[7962]

9. I wonder about dashcams or audio

Does it exist?

[mountain grammy]

2. What a nightmare.

Country cops, city cops, shoot first, figure out what's going on later.

[edgineered]

4. His decision to end the bull's suffering is a punishment in itself.

Anyone who has had to take that action knows the feelings it involves, family included. I cannot begin to understand how torn his family feels with witnessing the added brutality of his murder to the already sorrowful loss. It's beyond words.

[gwheezie]

5. I would be enraged if I saw that

How stupid and inhumane. Who thinks open firing on a bull is the way to end its misery. If I was the owner and I was prevented from putting a suffering animal down by the yahoos who caused it more torment, I'd be furious. Ranchers know how to shoot a bull to put it down, one well placed shot not open firing so the animal suffers more.
When I had horses, I had a few neighbors who had cattle. If one of my horses had to be put down immediately I would call one of those guys, not a deputy or a hunter. Putting down a huge animal is alot different than shooting a deer or a target.

[edgineered]

7. Exactly,

Some cannot realize that the rancher was doing something humane; he had a personal attachment to the bull and it required him to reach deep inside himself - an act that a man (or woman) does only through his or her own strength and not to the whims of crowds or spectators. With the accounts of what transpired it is obvious that the law enforcement officers had no experience in this arena, and there is no classroom training that can teach it. About the only thing worse than having to shoot your own animal is screwing it up and having to shoot him again; a slow death from multiple gut shots - for some reason I don't think it will even bother those f'ing idiots.

[7962]

8. Right. Thats why this deserves national attention. Didnt even involve crime!

Absolutely disgusting.
There should be dashcam footage of at least SOMETHING i would think

[ellie]

3. Why did I read this?

Jesus Christ.

[jtuck004]

15. Because you, like us, live in the same world with the same "police". If we can. n/t

[retrowire]

10. I feel like cops sometimes wake up in the morning and go

"I wonder what it's like to kill a man...."

[PatSeg]

24. I think they watch

too many cop dramas on TV and think it is real.

[Ed Suspicious]

11. What a nightmare.

[uppityperson]

12. Amazing how different the initial story was. Let's see what their cams show. Argh! Fk this shit

Initial story
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/gun-battle-with-bull-in-the-middle-leaves-rancher-dead/

This one says they had on cams. Gee, I wonder if they were turned on or suffered a malfunction?
http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/article43224009.html

[7962]

13. Wow, 2 totally different accounts. This will get interesting nt

[Kali]

14. holy shit!

I have had DPS and the local Sheriffs deputies put down cattle hit on roads - I guess I should be more grateful they seem to actually know what they are doing then. they are pretty clueless about handling live ones still running around, but at least they know how to put a severely injured animal down.

and to kill the owner when he was just trying to do the right thing they were incapable of doing? OMG.

[Live and Learn]

16. What a horrific incident. nt

[Tumbulu]

17. How horrendous!

But why is this in the Miami Herald?

[bongo_x]

18. maybe...

There’s just not that many good newspapers left that investigate stories?

[libodem]

32. Because it is not

Being published in Idaho. You wouldn't even know it happened. The details are being concealed from the pubic, here.

[NBachers]

19. After the shooting, Paradis said, the deputies’ demeanor was “smug” and “almost celebratory.”

It's a real fershure Cop Gun Murder Party! High Fives all around back at the station.

No one knows when or where the next Cop Gun Murder Party will happen. Keep Watching! Keep Waiting! The next Cop Gun Murder Party might be just for you!

[AllyCat]

20. What on earth were these officers doing?

If the family's account is accurate, they should sue. Peace to Mr Yantis and his family.

[Sunlei]

21. This is the problem today. "Police-escalate the situation"

[muriel_volestrangler]

22. Sounds like there should be independent witnesses - the people in the car that hit the bull

and maybe others who are called "emergency responders as they worked to get the driver and passenger out of the car" in the CBS report, though that might mean the police, I suppose.

[7962]

23. Thats true; theres no mention of the people in the car.

Maybe the car wasnt that badly damaged and they had already left? Who knows, but thats a good question

[Major Hogwash]

25. The people that were in the car were taken to the hospital.

They didn't witness any shooting at the scene of the accident.
Yantis showed up later and argued with the deputies who were going to put down his bull.
Yantis brought a rifle with him to the scene of the accident, and after arguing with the deputies about destroying his bull, he shot at one of the deputies, then both of the deputies returned fire.

[muriel_volestrangler]

26. Have you got the link for that? (nt)

[Major Hogwash]

27. No, that was what was reported on the local news the night that it happened.

Council is a sleepy small, old mining town located about 100 miles northwest of Boise.

[Sunlei]

31. police gut shot the bull multi times & only made it run amuck again, it collapsed on own property.

Then the owner was going to put it down with the PROPER one shot to the head.

Police are gun crazed, out of control in America.

Even after police killed the man, the bull laid there for a couple more hours gutshot until it died.

[matt819]

28. And here's the problem

Half the country believes the cops.

The other half of the country believes the cops were lying.

And it's further complicated by the fact that cops and victims are white. And likely politically similar. So the rwnj's are majorly conflicted on who to support.

Tragic, of course, but as it's happening daily, pretty much routine and so it lends onto the background.

Speaking of which, anyone know the latest on the Sandra Bland investigation? Wanna bet this story fades as quickly from the national consciousness?

[Sunlei]

30. Sandra Bland Family lawyers have asked for all files to be turned over by 11/10 tomorrow,.....

as of today, 11/9 the Prairie View Police Department has fought against EVERYTHING in the Courts, tooth and nail.

police asked for immunity from any lawsuit. police haven't turned over any records, videos or recordings of anything.

here's a recent article about that.

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Agencies-push-back-on-legal-discovery-in-Sandra-6615942.php

"As late of Wednesday, the city of Prairie View asserted a law enforcement privilege, for now, because of "a current and ongoing criminal investigation being conducted by the Texas Rangers concerning the subpoenaed information."

A subpoena sets Nov. 10 as the date items are due from the Prairie View Police Department. The city's motion to quash the subpoena was filed Nov. 4. The judge has not made a ruling.

Last month, Hittner declared as protected "all documents or discovery responses designated by the producing party as 'confidential' and which are disclosed or produced to the attorneys for the other parties to this litigation."

The protective order, signed Oct. 16, remains in place after the lawsuit is over "except with respect to those documents and information that become a matter of public record."

[matt819]

35. Thanks for that update

I should have looked it up.

I think the point is still valid. Because there are so many of these shootings, they tend to blend into each other, and we as a nation begin to become inured to the threat they pose.

[scscholar]

29. So typical of the Republican's thugs in blue

So typical. Just so typical. So typical it makes me want to die. To die.

[libodem]

34. I too am struck by

Existential angst. I try to fight it by thinking of compassion and unconditional love for all involved.

Police brutality is such an authoritarian position to be holding up as an American ideal for all the world to see. It's wrong and we know it.

[Oneironaut]

33. These two gun humpers didn't get their jollies off enough.

They needed to satisfy their urges on a new target. They thoroughly enjoyed shooting this man, and would have gladly mowed down the wife and friend too if given even the slightest of opportunity. This was, in their minds, one of the greatest nights in their lives. This is why they became cops in the first place.

[IDemo]

36. Attorney for Yantis family talks about case

WTF -- "here you have rural police officers who should have known about Jack Yantis; you know, they're of the same race and you have this excessive force being used."

http://www.ktvb.com/story/news/local/2015/11/10/attorney-yantis-family-talks-case/75496148/

[Beacool]

37. Let me guess, their story will be that they "feared for their life".

Poor woman. Ironically, I bet that they were a God fearing conservative couple who never thought that one of them would die at the hands of the police.

May Mrs. Yantis make a full recovery and condolences on the death of her husband.