By Sarah Cutler
The Idaho Statesman
BOISE, Idaho — The city of Boise has settled a lawsuit with Boise police Sgt. Kirk Rush, who sought damages for the “alleged misconduct” of former Chief Ryan Lee during a 2021 training incident, according to a Wednesday news release from the city. During court-ordered mediation in the case, the city’s insurance provider settled the case for $850,000.
In the lawsuit, Rush, a member of the Boise Police Department’s K-9 Unit, alleged that in October 2021 Lee demonstrated a neck hold on him without consent during a training exercise, causing injures that later required surgery, the Idaho Statesman previously reported. Rush claimed he had been at odds with Lee over planned policy changes to the K-9 unit, and that the neck hold was a form of retaliation.
“Sgt. Rush believed that Mr. Lee accosted him at the briefing because he had disagreed with Mr. Lee about the direction of the K9 unit,” the lawsuit said.
This incident was one of multiple controversies that led to Lee’s ouster in late 2023.
According to an audio recording of a conversation about the incident between Lee and Idaho State Police — previously obtained by the Statesman — Lee told ISP he was surprised to hear that Rush was injured in the demonstration. He had aimed to show officers a range of ways to subdue suspects amid his concerns that the department was using vascular neck holds too frequently, he said.
Lee filed — and then withdrew — his own lawsuit claiming that Rush was trying to derail his career by falsely accusing him of injuring his neck. Lee said Rush’s allegations had prevented him from obtaining three “high-ranking” positions at other police departments around the country, the Statesman reported.
Maria Weeg, a spokesperson for the city, told the Statesman in late 2023 that Rush had filed a workers’ compensation claim over the incident, which had been settled.
“Sgt. Rush has received the medical and other benefits to which he is entitled, and the city is willing to pay for any other medical claims associated with his injury into the future,” Weeg wrote in an email to the Statesman at the time. “We remain open to mediating any issues Sgt. Rush and his lawyers believe were unresolved.”
In May, Boise settled a lawsuit from its former director of police accountability, Jesus Jara, for $675,000. Jara claimed that his firing in late 2022 was in retaliation for his investigation into police officers’ complaints against Lee.
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