Idaho parents of girl injured in Potato Drop explosion ask Boise for millions
The parents of the young girl injured when a fireball shattered glass on a building downtown during the New Year’s Eve Potato Drop festivities has filed a tort claim against the city of Boise, a possible precursor to a lawsuit.
The parents, Richard and Daryl Ratto, said in their June 9 claim that the city knew that the organizers wouldn’t submit adequate information and would “fail to abide by the planning documents.” The city, the two alleged, “allowed the event to continue despite clear violations.” The organizers did not return a request for comment on Thursday.
The claim was sent to several city entities. The claimants are asking for $10 million against each respondent and said their damages include medical care, psychological and counseling care and pain, suffering and mental anguish.
“Publicly available records concerning meetings and permitting of previous events … show that since at least 2018, respondents have had numerous concerns with the event planning and execution,” the claim said. “Including numerous instances of the setup of the event and resources not following the actual planning documents that were submitted to obtain the special events permit.”
Tort claims are civil claims made against a state or local government for a wrongful or negligent act. Under Idaho law, a tort claim must be filed with that government to allow it an opportunity to respond before being sued. Not everyone follows up unanswered claims by suing.
A spokesperson for the city, Maria Ortega, said in an email Thursday that the city is “not able to comment on pending or ongoing claims.”
The Idaho Potato Drop has drawn attention for its unique alternative to the glitzy New York City ball that drops at midnight. But this year, it made headlines for the fireball that erupted before colorful fireworks started shooting into the night sky.
The blast shattered windows on a downtown building, and a piece of glass hit a child in the face, according to a GoFundMe set up on behalf of the family. She underwent three hours of surgery and a skin graft, the GoFundMe said.
It’s unclear what led to the explosion, but police wrote in a report that there were unplanned food trucks near the fireworks site, according to previous Statesman reporting. The report said that “blast pressure waves can reflect off solid objects, such as the ground, buildings, etc. When blast pressure waves reflect off objects and collide with other pressure waves, it can magnify the pressure.”
After the fireworks, a Boise Police officer approached Idaho Potato Drop CEO Dylan Cline and a pyrotechnics technician to tell them about the shattered windows, according to previous Statesman reporting. According to police body-cam footage, Cline said “f*** yeah,” and high-fived the technician, who responded that that wasn’t what they were going for.
Afterward, Boise staff cited a history of issues with the organizers.
“I can tell you that our communication and collaboration experience with this has been quite different than other events,” said Maria Weeg, director of community engagement and chair of the special events team, during a city presentation.
