If Idaho State Police investigators have body-camera video from the two Adams County Sheriff’s Office deputies who shot and killed rancher Jack Yantis of Council earlier this month, they’re not releasing it.
And ISP’s lead communication contact isn’t saying just when the state agency might make any video clips public, if they exist.
ISP now leads the investigation as to what happened Nov. 1 when the two deputies killed the 62-year-old rancher.
Yesterday, ISP’s public information officer Teresa Baker told IdahoReporter.com, “I am sure that you and your readers understand that if ISP or the Adams County Sheriff’s Office release evidence, or even the existence of evidence, could compromise the investigation into this incident.”
The Idaho Statesman reported six days ago that the two deputies wore body cameras during the confrontation, which began shortly after a motorist crashed into a bull Yantis owned. Adams County Sheriff Ryan Zollman told the paper he didn’t know if the body cameras captured the confrontation with police.
The sheriff confirmed that a dash camera in a county patrol car did not capture the events.
Even if ISP has a video recording, Baker wrote in an email, the agency won’t release anything that might taint the investigation. She noted, “Our goal is to complete an impartial and thorough investigation by meticulously analyzing the evidence and interviewing witnesses.”
Anger over the killing continues to grow in Adams County and across the country as national news outlets pick up the story.
According to a KIVI news report, at a heated town hall meeting yesterday, one questioner wondered if Zollman would resign if the investigation finds he hired “two murderers.”
The sheriff said he has no plans to leave his post.
Baker asked for calm as ISP investigators work through the case. “I can tell you that our detectives have been working nonstop on this investigation and will continue to do so until it is completed,” Baker said. “ We ask for the patience of the public in making judgments in this investigation so that it can be completed as quickly as possible. “
Friends set up a GoFundMe to help his wife, Donna, cover expenses. She suffered a heart attack shortly after deputies shot and killed her husband. The webpage describes Jack Yantis as a “lifelong Council icon.”
