A Rancher is dead, his wife suffered a heart attack, and his prized, hand-raised bull was left for hours to die slowly. Witnesses were left with a horrifying scene of what seems to amount to nothing less than police misconduct and murder. That is how the police in Idaho handle calls to assist motorists who have hit cattle on the road, apparently.
In Idaho cattle are allowed to roam freely, they don’t have to be fenced in, but if one is struck by a car, it is the ranchers loss and he is responsible to put the animal out of its misery. After Jack Yantis and his wife Donna got a phone call that their prized, hand-raised, bull had been struck he went to handle the sad yet necessary task of ending the animals suffering and clearing it from the road.
While he was waiting for his wife to bring his rifle and a skid-loader to be brought down to remove the body, police opened fire into the wounded animal. Using what is reported to be an assault rifle and a handgun they shot the bull in its guts, wounding it further and causing it to rage in pain and fear. When Yantis attempted to end the animals horrific ordeal with a humane shot to the back of its head, an officer inexplicably grabbed his arm, jerking the gun and causing a misfire to occur.
That is when both officers shot the rancher in his stomach, hand, and chest also. They then proceeded to throw him to the ground, search him, and then handcuff his 63-year-old wife who consequently to watching her husband’s murder suffered a heart attack. Both officers have been placed on paid leave, of course, because murder gets officers a vacation. The officer’s behavior after the killing was described as smug, and celebratory.
According to one witness, Randy Paradis:
Law enforcement should be trained to de-escalate situations. In this case, I stood 10 feet away and watched two deputies escalate the situation and needlessly kill a man.
Police and mainstream media are trying to frame this murder as a shootout, because the officer who grabbed Yantis’ arm caused the bullet that was intended to end the bulls suffering to miss its target.
Yantis’ daughter, Sarah, is quoted as saying:
There was no shootout. It was a senseless murder. My dad is dead, and the two deputies who killed him are on paid vacation. That makes me angry.
The bull, despite requests from the family and witnesses, was left to suffocate to death on his own blood, due to the officer’s poor choices, and lived in agony on the asphalt for two more hours.
The family is planning to pursue legal action against the officers and the department.
Here is the official statement from Sheriff Ryan Zollman, which very carefully says nothing:
Feature image via Screen Capture
