Bonner County deputies cleared in shooting

Bonner County Deputies Michael Gagnon, Justin Penn and William Craffey have been cleared in the Jan. 16, 2017, shooting of 31-year-old, Adam D. Foster near Blanchard.

An investigation into the incident was submitted by the Multi-Jurisdictional, North Idaho Critical Incident Task Force for review.

“I have concluded that Bonner County deputies Gagnon, Penn, and Craffey used appropriate force in response to the threatening conduct of Adam D. Foster,” Kootenai County Prosecutor Barry McHugh said in a report on the investigation.

In reaching a decision regarding law enforcement officers use of deadly force several items must be taken into consideration, among those are; the totality of the circumstances, what information is known to officers at the moment the incident happens, whether the person is actively resisting, whether the armed person posed an immediate threat to the safety of the officers, the facts and evidence provided, and the severity of the crime being committed. “Any evaluation of the use of deadly force must include a recognition “that police officers are often forced to make split-second judgments in circumstances that are tense, uncertain, and rapidly evolving.”