OPINION: Idaho police officer’s actions demand consequences

This editorial was published in The Idaho Statesman of Boise.

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The actions of a Meridian police officer caught on video require consequences, and the city of Meridian and its Police Department owe the public transparency and accountability.

As the Idaho Statesman’s Rose Evans reported last week, a Meridian police officer threw a young man to the ground with little warning and then kneeled on his neck, a practice that “is not a taught nor sanctioned use-of-force technique” in the Treasure Valley, according to Gary Raney, who was Ada County sheriff for 10 years and who now consults on criminal justice practices.

The incident occurred after a teenager lost control of his dirt bike in a residential neighborhood, crashed in someone’s front yard, then slammed himself into a parked car in a driveway.

Meridian Police Officer Bradley Chambers responded to the scene, where the dirt bike rider’s brothers had loaded the dirt bike into the bed of their pickup truck.

The family, understandably, is demanding answers.

In watching videos of the incident from June of this year, it’s clear that the young man in question, Samson Allen, 21, was not obeying the officer’s instructions.

Allen and his brother questioned Chambers and said they weren’t going to unload the bike from the truck just to load it back up again, arguing with Chambers that “it’s our property.”

(What is it that “back the blue” people say? If a police officer tells you to do something, just do it. If they had just done what the police officer told them to do, none of this would have happened.)

That said, it is also clear to us that Chambers was acting out of frustration and anger with the uncooperative and disrespectful subjects who weren’t obeying a police officer’s orders.

We see no evidence of deescalation techniques in the video and very little warning that if Allen continued his behavior he would be arrested.

We see Chambers rapidly escalate the situation by grabbing Allen by the arm and then throwing him to the ground where he puts his knee on Allen’s neck.

The incident reminds us of another altercation involving a Meridian police officer in 2023. In that instance, Meridian police officer Donald Heida was recorded repeatedly punching a DUI suspect in the face while the suspect was pinned on the ground.

Meridian Police Chief Tracy Basterrechea said at the time that Heida acted “within policy.”

Perhaps that incident and its lack of consequences for the officer paved the way for the more recent incident.

Samson Allen’s father, Chris Allen, told the Idaho Statesman that he’s not only concerned about the use of potentially deadly force against his son, he’s concerned about the lack of communication and transparency from the Meridian Police Department, a concern we share.

Chambers has since moved on to the Boise Police Department.

Chambers’ case highlights a shocking hole in Idaho law, which automatically takes the side of the police officer and practically guarantees no consequences.

Based on a reading of Idaho Code 19-610, an officer’s use of force is lawful in Idaho if it is “objectively reasonable as determined by that officer at that moment of time,” Bill King, chairperson of the criminal justice department at Boise State University, told the Idaho Statesman.

In other words, if an officer can say after the fact that he needed to use force, then who are any of us to say otherwise?

Officers are given carte blanche under Idaho law.

We understand and acknowledge that being a police officer is a difficult and dangerous job, and we recognize that most officers do the right thing and are good officers.

We also recognize that officers can be pushed to the limits of their patience.

But police officers must be held to a higher standard of conduct than this.

We hope that the Meridian Police Department reviews the incident and acknowledges that this is inappropriate behavior for an officer. We hope the department learns from the incident and uses it as a teaching moment for its other officers.

We also hope that the department comes clean and admits this is not the level of professionalism it expects from its officers.

Because if it is acceptable behavior, and the department simply brushes the incident under the rug or shrugs it off as being “within policy,” it could do serious damage to the trust that it holds with the community.

TNS