Prosecutor clears Ada County deputies who fatally shot knife-wielding man on I-84
Ada County Sheriff’s Office deputies were justified in the fatal shooting of a Boise man who repeatedly stabbed a deputy last April on Interstate 84, according to an Idaho prosecutor.
Valley County Prosecutor Brian Naugle said in a March 6 letter that there would be no charges brought against the four deputies involved in the incident, which concluded with the shooting of 40-year-old Jared Decker. Naugle said all four deputies — Ryan Carlson, Anthony Del Toro, Dustin Lauritzon and Todd Nelson — were “reasonable” and “justifiable” in their actions, but only two of them shot Decker, according to an investigative report.
“This is not a close case,” Naugle said. “Decker’s continued refusal to obey the deputies’ lawful commands to stop and arrange for his removal from the freeway created a situation that endangered both Mr. Decker and the driving public.”
In the early hours of April 10, 2023, the four deputies responded to the eastbound lanes of Interstate 84 near Eisenman Road — south of the Boise Airport — to a report of a man walking on the highway. The deputies attempted to speak with Decker for more than five minutes to no avail, so they decided to physically detain him to get him off I-84, according to body-camera footage released by the Sheriff’s Office.
The four deputies approached Decker, who was walking and pushing his bike, when Nelson grabbed Decker’s backpack and attempted to detain him. Those two fell to the ground, and Decker pulled out a knife and stabbed Nelson several times.
Deputies Carlson and Del Toro fired their weapons at Decker, who was taken to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, where he was pronounced dead, the Idaho Statesman previously reported. The Ada County Coroner’s Office said Decker died from “multiple gunshot wounds of the torso.” An investigative report said six “projectiles” were removed from his body.
Lauritzon fired bean-bag rounds at Decker, according to a report, and Nelson was armed with a taser.
This was one of 11 police shootings in the Treasure Valley in 2023, seven of which were fatal, according to a database maintained by the Idaho Statesman.
Injured deputy hasn’t returned to work
Nelson has had several surgeries as a result of the stabbing and “continues to recover,” according to the Sheriff’s Office. He hasn’t returned to work.
He was also shot in the left knee and right calf by the gunfire from Carlson and Del Toro.
“There is little doubt that the deputies who fired their weapons did so in an attempt to save their fellow officer, not to injure him further,” Naugle said in his letter, adding that they were not negligent.
Instead of waiting for an ambulance, Del Toro took Nelson in his patrol car to meet an ambulance closer to Boise. According to an investigative report, deputies were concerned that an ambulance would take roughly 15 minutes to get to them since they were outside the Boise city limits.
Nelson told investigators afterward that he thought he wasn’t going to make it and that he remembers Del Toro asking both dispatch and Nelson for directions to Saint Alphonsus since he’d been out of training for only a few days. The deputies met an ambulance on Broadway Avenue.
“(Nelson) was adamant that if the other deputies did not deploy lethal force to stop (Decker’s) actions, he would not be here today having this interview,” the investigative report said.
