Oversight office: Fatal Boise police shooting was ‘justified’ — after a ‘flawed’ decision
Both the Boise Police Department’s internal investigation and the city’s police oversight agency concluded that the officer who shot 22-year-old Payton Wasson in the head while chasing him didn’t violate policy.
Wasson was armed and running away from police downtown in June 2023 near a crowded nightlife area.
“The Office of Police Accountability concurs that the use of force was justified and necessary to protect the public and the lives of officers,” according to an 11-page report released by the agency Tuesday. Gooding County Prosecutor Trevor Misseldine previously cleared Boise Police Officer Chance Feldner, who joined the department in 2014, of any wrongdoing — part of the Critical Incident Task Force review and procedure.
But the police accountability report also said that officers made a “poor tactical decision” that escalated rather than de-escalated the situation. And the Boise police internal investigation suggested that the department should prohibit the use of advanced tactics like vehicle assaults outside of a special operations unit.
Boise police said they were investigating Wasson, along with 27-year-old Mario Garza, on suspicion of gang activity and drug dealing on the night of the shooting in June 2023. The officers saw a firearm in Garza’s vehicle earlier that night, and neither Wasson nor Garza legally could possess a gun because of felony convictions.
Instead of arresting the men before they walked back to the parking lot at 5th and Idaho streets where they were parked, police officers waited for them to return to the vehicle because they thought it would help tie Garza to the handgun.
The accountability report called this decision “flawed.”
“The officers’ desire to strengthen the evidence of a criminal offense does not outweigh the necessity to make sound tactical decisions,” the report said, noting that officers should have de-escalated any risk by contacting the men before they reached Garza’s vehicle — where there was access to a firearm.
In interviews after the shooting, some officers said they thought that the plan was to block Garza’s vehicle and then approach the men on foot, while others thought they’d call the men over to them, the report said.
Once Wasson obtained the firearm and fled from law enforcement, the report said Feldner’s decision to pursue him was “appropriate.” Wasson was an “immediate threat” to Feldner and others because he refused to drop the gun, and the report said Wasson also pointed the gun at Feldner and an uninvolved bystander, although body-camera footage of that isn’t clear.
“Faced with the impossible choice of allowing Mr. Wasson to continue to rapidly close the distance toward the crowd, with all those inherent risks, or hesitate and risk being shot himself, Officer Feldner chose to shoot Mr. Wasson,” which was appropriate, the report said.
Wasson’s death sparked several protests in the city and calls from police accountability advocates for transparency surrounding the details of the shooting. His mother, Marah Wasson, has been a vocal critic of police’s actions that night. She’s filed a $5 million tort claim against the city, arguing that she’s suffered “mental anguish, emotional distress and physical manifestations” because of her son’s death.
The report also addressed some other issues surrounding the shooting, including guidance that supervisors should be actively taking control in these types of situations versus passively monitoring the event, and that officers should use time and distance to their advantage and not rely on “inherently risky” techniques.
Boise Police Officer Jacy Palic was found in violation of a department policy because she failed to turn on her body camera until after the shooting. But the report also noted that Palic’s body-cam wouldn’t have recorded the incident because of her physical location.
Feldner’s use of profanity was also mentioned, as he cursed five times during the pursuit, according to body-cam footage. The report said that it might have been a “stress response,” but noted that using that language excessively can adversely affect public perception of police actions. It suggested that Boise Police Chief Ron Winegar should address the issue with the officer.
This story was originally published August 13, 2024 at 5:51 PM.
