Posted on 11/02/2015 4:48:02 PM PST by Timber Rattler
Idaho State Police are investigating after a Council rancher was shot and killed Sunday by deputies with the Adams County Sheriff's Office.
The incident began when a Subaru station wagon crashed into a bull on US 95 north of Council at about 6:45 p.m. Emergency responders and Adams County deputies responded and were working to extricate the two people inside the car. Adams County Sheriff Ryan Zollman said the bull, which was injured in the collision, started charging at emergency responders and other vehicles.
"The bull was very agitated and was aggressive to emergency services, as well as the other cars coming up and down the highway," he said.
Deputies were getting ready to put the animal down when the bull's owner, 62-year-old Jack Yantis, arrived on the scene with a rifle. Zollman said dispatchers had called Yantis after the crash, telling him that the bull that was hit appeared to be his, and was down on the highway near his house.
What happened next is still under investigation, but Zollman said there was an altercation and Yantis and both deputies all fired their weapons.
Yantis was fatally wounded and died at the scene. One of the deputies suffered a minor injury.
An emotional Zollman said Monday that his thoughts went out to everyone involved, and that his office took the shooting very seriously. ISP has taken over the investigation to prevent a conflict of interest.
"This is going to be a big hit to this community," Zollman said. "The gentleman involved, Mr. Yantis, was a well-known cattle rancher around here. It's just a sad deal for everybody involved, for the whole community."
The deputies who shot Yantis have been placed on paid leave. Their names have not yet been released.
"To the best of my knowledge, this is the first officer-involved shooting that Adams County has ever had," Zollman said.
Yantis' wife, Donna Yantis, suffered a heart attack after learning that her husband had been shot, family members said. She was taken to a Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, where she was listed in critical condition Monday.
Both people inside the Subaru were taken to a Boise hospital by air ambulance. Their conditions are unknown. The bull was killed, although authorities are still investigating whether a bullet from Yantis' gun or one of the deputies' weapons killed the animal.
The area where the bull was hit is open range, Zollman said, and darkness had fallen by the time the Subaru crashed into the black bull in the roadway.
"It's not uncommon for us to have these kind of livestock versus vehicle accidents," he said. "Typically they don't turn out this way."
US 95 was blocked until 3:05 a.m. The investigation is ongoing.
“Typically they don’t turn out this way.”
Gee, that makes a dead rancher all that much better. /s
this story is full of Bull
Wow. What a cluster. Shooting, car wreck, raging bull, heart attack...
The deputies have returned safely to their families and to their homes. What else could had be asked?
Wow...that was certainly handled poorly.
The rancher probably wanted to shoot the bull himself for the meat.
and a big steaming pile of what comes with the Bull as well
Or put down humanely instead of used for target practice. The rancher could have put him down with one bullet.
Paid leave!
This is pretty obvious.
The bull was aggressive, causing an accident.
When the deputies arrived, it was still being aggressive, charging at emergency responders and likely the deputies. When people’s lives are at risk, those in the Subaru, LEOs do not screw around with aggressive and dangerous animals.
Then the rancher shows up and doesn’t want them to shoot his bull. In that situation he is not really different than a large dog owner whose animal is threatening people.
Just FYI, cows and bulls kill on average 20 Americans a year. You do not screw around with an aggressive bull.
It is possible he wanted to keep the animal from being shot, too. Means of production and all that. The biggest reason the animal was shot may have been that it was agitated, not that it was irreparably damaged. (Not enough info to say).
A good cowhand can get a critter to behave, back down or move along when someone not so well versed in dealing with livestock will make a mess of things.
sorry but uhm,,I don’t think I’d drive on an open range road at night. If it were my driveway on my ranch, yes,,but an open range road? WTH?
One year here in Austin (North) I turned the corner of a back single-lane road and found a big boy Longhorn standing smack in the middle. He was easily a thousand pounds, plus horns. Quiet road, no one around. I was okay but worried what might happen if he got spooked. That’s a lot of beef on the move and he would be impossible to stop!
So went to the police, they called the rancher, pulled up the trailer, and picked him up. It was actually rather amusing.
Then again, that was during daylight hours.
I can’t tell you how many times growing up, we had to wait for the herd to clear the driveway so we could get from our house to the gate on our property. And, they know. Don’t tell me they’re stupid. They know they are in the way and don’t give a damn. In fact, they seem to enjoy it.
We don’t have the full story. They could have fired in self-defense. As an LE officer in the 50’s investigating a one car accident, I was attacked by an armed passenger. There was no fatality, but could have been.
The rancher may have had his gun out and the deputies ordered him to stand down and he didn’t listen and they decided to shoot him instead of the bull.
I have no clue what happened. That’s just a what-if scenario.
Not much good happens after dark out in public.
He may also have been older, with hearing problems.
I just finished reading other stories from local media outlets, and it seems that the rancher was a very prominent businessman and pillar of that community. Makes no sense that he and the deputies would get into a shootout, with him getting killed over a wounded bull. Somebody clearly overreacted and escalated the situation.
Thinking were not getting all the story yet.
Another story states that a police dispatcher called the rancher and told him that his bull had been hit, and for him to come out and deal with it. The deputies were there when he arrived, and shortly thereafter, they all threw down on each other.
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