Boise’s bill from former police chief Ryan Lee’s tenure keeps going up
Ryan Lee resigned as head of the Boise Police Department years ago, but the city is still dealing financially with the fallout from his exit.
In a news release Tuesday, the city of Boise announced that it settled a lawsuit with Tom Fleming, a former Internal Affairs captain, to the tune of $450,000 — bringing the total cost of legal settlements stemming from Lee’s tenure to nearly $2 million.
Boise Mayor Lauren McLean asked Lee to resign in September 2022, after KTVB published an article detailing some of the allegations against Lee, in what McLean called an “unprecedented step” of publicizing personnel complaints. His resignation — and the airing of some of the complaints — was followed by the firing of the city’s police oversight director and a litany of lawsuits.
Fleming was one of at least nine BPD employees who filed complaints, which boiled down to concerns that Lee engaged in unethical behavior, repeatedly retaliated against subordinates, and behaved unprofessionally while creating a hostile work environment. Fleming eventually left the agency and sued the city, accusing Lee of discriminating and retaliating against him for conducting investigations.
His lawsuit was one of three that arose from that time period.
In 2024, the city settled for $675,000 with former Office of Police Accountability Director Jesus Jara, who said he was fired in 2022 for investigating the nine officers’ complaints. The city repeatedly denied Jara’s allegations, and instead cited concerns about his performance in the role. Records previously obtained by the Idaho Statesman showed that on top of officials’ concerns about his performance, city leaders were also driven by his handling of the officers’ internal complaints.
Later that same year, the city settled with Boise Police Sgt. Kirk Rush for $850,000. Rush alleged that he’d been injured by Lee in October 2021 during a training exercise that saw Lee demonstrate a neck hold on him without his consent. That incident led to an investigation by Idaho State Police, and the Clearwater County prosecuting attorney concluded that criminal charges could not be proved, but that this was a “very difficult decision” and “a close call.”
This most recent settlement came while the lawsuit was in mediation. The city’s insurance provider, Intact, exercised its rights under its policy and settled the case on the city’s behalf, the news release said. Jara’s and Rush’s lawsuits were also settled by the city’s insurance provider, according to prior Statesman reporting.
