Tort claims says Nampa police ‘escalated’ incident that left teen shot, injured
The parents of a teen set the stage to sue the city of Nampa over allegations that its officers were negligent and used “excessive and unreasonable force” against their son, who was shot and injured on Halloween night last year.
In their $10 million tort claim — a precursor to suing a government agency — the teens’ parents accused several officers from the Nampa Police Department of “unnecessarily” escalating the situation when they responded to reports of the teen attacking his mother, according to the complaint.
The Idaho Statesman isn’t identifying the teenager because he is a juvenile.
At around 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 31, officers were called to a disturbance near the city’s downtown at East Side Park for reports that a boy was “violently attacking” his mother, the agency said at the time. When officers arrived, the mother was outside “with obvious injuries,” the news release said, and the teen had gone into their home, which is in the same area.
Nampa police said that when officers went through the front door to contact the teen, he “aggressed them with a knife,” which is when two officers fired their weapons at him. But in their five-page complaint, filed by their attorney, the parents accused police of escalating the situation themselves.
As Nampa Police Officer Trevor White approached the front entryway, calling out for the teen, his firearm was already drawn, Boise-based attorney Max Williams wrote in the parents’ claim, citing body-camera footage. And, as the teen moved into the front area of the house, officers “rapidly escalated the encounter,” he alleged.
White, who’d been on the job for six months at that point, forced the front door open, physically moved the teen’s mother from the doorway, and within moments of seeing the young man, fired at him, the claim alleged. He did so without “sufficient time or effort to employ meaningful de-escalation or less-lethal alternatives,” the tort claim read.
Another officer, Thomas Callahan, who joined the police force in 2024, also shot at the teen from outside the residence near the entryway, according to the complaint. The teen was struck in the abdomen and both arms, and had “severe and life-threatening injuries,” according to the claim, which added that he underwent extensive physical therapy.
The tort claim was first reported by KTVB.
Nampa officers shoot 3 in six-month period, database shows
Given a related matter that’s pending in Canyon County and the lack of response — so far — from the city, Williams declined to comment further to the Statesman. The city has until late July to react to the claim. If it doesn’t, then the teen’s family could file a lawsuit.
The officers “failed to reasonably assess the totality of the circumstances,” Williams wrote in the tort claim, including the juvenile’s age, the confined setting, the proximity of bystanders, and the availability of time, distance, and less-lethal alternatives.
“Rather than employing reasonable de-escalation measures, the officers unnecessarily and unreasonably escalated the encounter and created the conditions leading to the use of deadly force,” the tort alleged.
In January, Joe Decker, a spokesperson for the Canyon County Sheriff’s Office, said his agency was close to finalizing its investigation into the shooting, as part of the Critical Incident Task Force. Once finished, it would be sent to an outside prosecutor to determine whether the involved officers should be criminally charged.
It’s unclear whether the investigation and the subsequent review by a prosecutor have been finalized. Decker didn’t immediately respond to an email Monday seeking clarification, and the Nampa Police Department didn’t respond to an email seeking additional information.
Between September and March — six months — the Nampa Police Department was involved in three shootings, according to an internal database maintained by the Statesman. Before then, the department had gone nearly a year without a shooting.
This shooting and one other did not involve fatalities.
In March, two officers shot and killed 26-year-old Josiah Gilliam, wanted on a felony warrant for violating his probation, when he “produced a handgun” and didn’t follow officers’ commands during a traffic stop, according to police. The driver of the vehicle was also shot in the hands, police said.
