Idaho man dies of an "unknown medical event"

May 16, 2011
Spokesman-Review

May 16, 2011: Unidentified male, age unknown, Boundary County, Idaho

A fatal confrontation involving a Boundary County deputy sheriff this morning in North Idaho is under investigation.

Details remained sketchy this afternoon, but the Sheriff’s Department confirms that one person is dead following an early morning encounter with a deputy who was responding to a report of a naked man blocking a road just off U.S. Highway 95.

Initial reports indicate the deputy used a Taser while attempting to subdue the man, but sheriff’s officials declined to discuss specifics about the investigation. The department, in a news release, would say only that “the subject appeared to have an unknown medical event.”

Identity of the dead man was being withheld while authorities tried to locate and advise his relatives. The identify of the deputy involved also was being withheld.

Medics were summoned to the scene but the man was pronounced dead at Boundary Community Hospital in nearby Bonners Ferry.

Circumstances surrounding the death are being investigated by Idaho State Police, which was asked by the sheriff to provide an independent investigation.

According to the Sheriff’s Department, a female motorist called shortly before 1 a.m. Monday to advise that she had encountered a vehicle blocking a local road and that when she attempted to assist, an unclothed man emerged. The woman returned to her vehicle and took an alternate route while contacting the sheriff’s department.