Boise stabbing victim files claim against agencies for allegedly failing to supervise parolee
The Boise man who was brutally attacked last year outside his home, allegedly by a man who was out on parole, has filed a tort claim against the Idaho Department of Correction and District 4 Probation and Parole.
Gary Vinsonhaler, then 74, was attacked outside his residence in the 3900 block of Preamble Place. Ruben Diaz, 36, who had been staying at a nearby group home called Hancock House, has been charged on suspicion of aggravated battery with an enhancement for the use of a deadly weapon and resisting arrest, and awaits trial.
Vinsonhaler filed the tort claim May 7. A tort claim is a legal complaint filed against a government agency, generally as a preface to a lawsuit, asking for damages as a result of the agency’s alleged failure.
The tort claim states that Vinsonhaler believes Diaz “was placed in Hancock House as a condition of his parole by the IDOC, and that Diaz was managed by District 4.” But it goes on to allege that “neither IDOC nor District 4 supervised or monitored the staff and employees of Hancock House to ensure that Diaz was actually taking the ordered medications.”
Previous reporting by the Idaho Statesman found that Diaz, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia and autism sometime before 2008, would stop taking his medication and threaten people with violence or attack them, according to court records. He told a state parole commission that, when unmedicated, he could lapse into delusions that other people were aliens.
The state released him in July 2018 to the Hancock House, which is an unsecured group home, with orders to take his medication, and it relied on the home’s staff and Diaz’s health care providers to make sure he was taking his meds.
Vinsonhaler’s tort claim alleges that the attack he suffered was “foreseeable” due to Diaz’s history of violence. Diaz once cut a man’s finger off and, while incarcerated, threatened to chop another inmate’s head off. All of that was outlined in the Statesman in December.
The tort claim alleges that IDOC and the parole district “failed to exercise reasonable care to supervise and monitor Ruben Daniel Diaz” while he was under their jurisdiction. It also claims that the agencies failed to use reasonable care to monitor Hancock House and its agreement to make sure Diaz took his medications.
“Hancock House failed to protect the neighborhood surrounding the group home and as a result, Gary Vinsonhaler was violently attacked by a dangerous felon that they had contracted to supervise,” according to the tort claim.
Vinsonhaler is asking for damages including past and future medical costs, permanent disfigurement and disability, and compensation for emotional distress and loss of services, among other things.
Diaz remains in custody and has pleaded not guilty, and his next court date is set for July 9. Diaz was temporarily declared incompetent for trial due to his mental health, but after being sent to the state hospital, his competency has been restored, the court decided.
This story was originally published July 2, 2019 at 9:34 AM.
