Bonneville County Coroner resigns after 12 years

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) — The Bonneville County Coroner is stepping down after 12 years.

Rick Taylor's resignation came to light after an article was published by 'ProPublica.' The article stated a Bonneville County baby died and Taylor had done little to investigate the death.

Taylor told Local News 8 he feels the article misrepresented him and his work.

He says he submitted his resignation before the article was published and that his reason for leaving has nothing to do with the story.

He said the coroner position is still part-time, but the workload has grown, and someone who can work full-time is needed.

"It won't be me. I cannot make that time commitment. Which is why I'm resigning is because it needs to be a full-time position, and so I tendered my resignation so that they could put somebody in as a full-time coroner, of which I have told them [Commissioners] they need to compensate them as such. And they have been in full agreement with me, the commissioners."

ProPublica's article focuses on the unexplained death of a local baby. It said the child did not get an autopsy. The article portrays the coroner’s investigation as negligent.

Taylor explains an autopsy was not needed and has a message for the family in the article. 

"I thought we were meeting their wishes in not doing an autopsy. We thought I felt that we had sufficient records between pediatric records, hospital records, emergency room records, that we can make a sound judgment on it. We don't take anything, especially child deaths, lightly. We just try to do what needs to be done to make a determination," Taylor said.

Taylor says his duties will officially end at the end of the day on December 28.

Since the county coroner is an elected position, the Bonneville County GOP will interview candidates to recommend to the County Commissioners as a replacement for Taylor.

You can listen to the full phone interview with Rick Taylor below.

Questions with video timecode:

0:00-

Q1) Can you share your thoughts on the article that was released yesterday?

4:15-

Q2) when is your last day? Like, have you officially stepped down?

4:29-

Q3) Can we get on the record why you are formally stepping away from this position?

5:28- 

Q4) With all these years that you have been the coroner, what would you like the public to remember your role in this position?

9:49-

Q5) How often are you receiving calls to go to a death scene? 

10:07- 

Q6) How often would someone receive an autopsy? 

What sort of death scene would you have to go to for you to be like; "Yeah, that one needs an autopsy." vs. one that's obvious of what happened?

12:56-

Q7) You see awful things, work all hours of the day, middle of the night, holidays, this is not an easy job. Why would you say you carried this role for so many years?

14:26-

Q8)  In this article it makes it sound like "Oh he only works five hours a day and takes time off. It makes it sound like it's a pretty laid-back job that doesn't require much of your time and energy. What would you like to say in response to that?

15:28-

Q9) Do you have any message for the Cooley family? 

18:11-

Q10) How often do you see SIDs in Bonneville County?

18:23-

Q11) Would the deciding factor to not get an autopsy be because of funding? If you can determine yourself that it is SIDs and you can come to that conclusion.

19:12-

Q12) In the case of an infant depth, what would be a reason to not get an autopsy?

19:47-

Q13) Anything you would like to add to the interview?