UPDATE: Sheriff Deputy cleared of criminal liability in Sept. 1 shooting
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) - After a month-long investigation, Bonneville County Prosecuting Attorney Randy Neal has determined the deputy involved in the officer-involved shooting on September 1st, 2024, bears no criminal liability for his actions.
The shooting took place early in the morning around 3:30 A.M. after a failed traffic stop led to a high speed car chase.
The driver has since been identified as 31-year-old Joshua Ramirez of Idaho Falls.
In the hours after the shooting, Local News 8 reporters were told by Bonneville County Sheriff's Deputy Bryan Lovell, "One of our deputies, attempted to stop a vehicle that had almost hit his vehicle head on in traffic."
The pursuit started from First Street on Woodruff and ended near Lincoln Road.
During the chase, one deputy was able to trap the driver using a pit maneuver. Lovell says deputies then attempted to make contact with the driver.
"Two other deputies arrived at that time, and they went up and during the point where they were working to make contact with the suspect, shots were fired," Lovell told Local News 8 in September.
According to the Prosecutor's 90-page determination, sheriff's deputies instructed Ramirez to show them his hands multiple times.
Body camera and dash camera footage from the incident shows that Ramirez reached out his arms in a “shooter’s stance” towards the deputies multiple times.
According to the determination, as one deputy moved towards the passenger door Ramirez lunged towards the officer while reaching behind the passenger seat. The deputy in question then "fired 9 shots into the blue Subaru striking Mr. Ramirez multiple times."
The deputies then removed Ramirez from the car and began to perform CPR. An Idaho Falls ambulance took Ramirez to the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center where he was pronounced dead at 4:10 A.M.
According to a toxicology report from the Ada County Coroner’s office, Ramirez's blood alcohol concentration was twice the legal limit at the time of the autopsy.
"During a search of Mr. Ramirez’s vehicle, a small folding knife, with the blade in the open position, was found on the floor of the vehicle just in front of and to the left side of the driver’s seat," Neal writes in his determination.
Neal concludes, "Based on the state of the evidence available to me at this time...I conclude that (the Deputy's) actions at the 1200 block of Woodruff Avenue in Idaho Falls on September 1, 2024, do not constitute criminal conduct."
