9 complaints against ex-Boise police chief detailed in documents McLean kept from view
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In recent years, the city of Boise has seen the forced resignation of its police chief, the firing of its police oversight director, and a litany of lawsuits in the aftermath of the airing of several complaints against ex-Boise Police Chief Ryan Lee.
But in all that time — despite repeated attempts to obtain more information — the full contents of the complaints against the former police chief were never publicized. Boise Mayor Lauren McLean said the complaints and the findings of a third-party review were internal personnel matters.
That all changed when 4th District Judge Jonathan Medema declined motions to seal several documents from the public in former Office of Police Accountability Director Jesus Jara’s lawsuit, the Idaho Statesman reported. The documents include a 31-page report by Jara, who was fired in December 2022, and a 21-page third-party review by Boise attorney Ryan Henson.
In several cases, the complaints in Jara’s report were dismissed by Henson’s review. In others, Henson wrote that he would need more information to draw a conclusion.
At least nine Boise Police Department employees ranging from internal affairs investigators to members of the command staff filed the complaints, which boiled down to concerns that Lee engaged in unethical behavior, repeatedly retaliated against subordinates, and behaved unprofessionally, creating a hostile work environment. Lee’s attorney, Bill Mauk, called the complaints an “orchestrated effort” to “ruin” Lee’s career.
Here’s a rundown of all the complaints:
‘Forced out’? Reports detail variety of complaints against former Boise police chief
Accusations of unethical behavior
Multiple complaints in Jara’s 2022 report accuse Lee of acting unethically by:
Quashing an investigation into whether a Boise officer lied in an investigation.
Keeping on the force an officer with multiple allegations of using excessive force during arrests, because the two had a personal relationship.
Hiring two “questionable” officers because they were from his previous department in Portland.
1. Officer accused of lying during investigations into off-duty shooting
Jara’s April 2022 report details accusations that Lee pressed Police Department investigators and other city officials to halt an investigation into accusations that Officer Tim Green lied to investigators after an off-duty shooting he witnessed in 2020.
Green was part of an 18-member camping party in Central Idaho that got into an argument with another man, 73-year-old Russell Liddell, who complained that the group was occupying his preferred campsite. Liddell fired two shots at members of the group, one of whom fired back — hitting Liddell seven times and killing him, according to Jara’s report.
Green told local investigators that he had a gun during this episode, though he did not shoot. Months later, during an internal investigation in Boise, Green said he did not actually have a gun during the episode, according to Jara’s report.
Complainants expressed concern that Lee did not sufficiently discipline Green for the inconsistent statements, and implied Lee may have exerted pressure to stop the internal investigation and prevent Green from being put on administrative leave.
Referring to police investigators and Bryan Norton, former attorney for the city of Boise, Jara’s report said, “It was relayed … that they all had ‘bosses’ and that this would not move forward.”
In his May 2022 review, Henson dismissed this complaint as a “second guess” of a decision that should be left to the chief, who is tasked with “ultimate decision-making responsibility.”
Henson also took issue with an Internal Affairs recommendation that Green be placed on leave, given his role in the episode as a witness.
“It is perplexing that (the Office of Internal Affairs) would recommend any BPD officer who witnessed a shooting, should be place(d) on administrative leave,” Henson wrote. “To extend this logic, any officer who witnesses a tragic event should also be placed on leave, leading to absurd results.”
Henson focused his review on whether the complaints suggested Lee had committed crimes or violated city policy. His review did not involve interviews with complainants or Lee. Several times in his report, Henson noted that he lacked complete information.
Off-duty police chief fatally shot man at an Idaho campground. The case is still unresolved
2. Lee protected an officer with a checkered past, complaints alleged
In a separate complaint, Lee was accused of giving Boise Police Officer Tyson Cooper preferential treatment because the two practiced martial arts together. Cooper, who is still on the force, has a history of allegations of using excessive force during arrests.
Though the reports redacted Cooper’s name, the Statesman was able to identify him based on matching details from a 2019 arrest detailed in Jara’s report.
The eight-year veteran of the Boise Police Department has been the subject of nine use-of-force investigations, nine citizen complaints, three department-initiated complaints, and one critical incident, which could have been a police shooting or any situation in which someone dies or is physically injured, according to Jara’s report.
At least two of those incidents prompted internal affairs investigations, one of which occurred after a May 2021 arrest where Cooper allegedly choked a suspect several times. Internal Affairs recommended that Cooper be placed on restricted duty, but Lee declined, which raised concerns from several officers about his relationship with Cooper.
“The consensus from the BPD staff that met with (the Office of Police Accountability) is that Officer Cooper should no longer be on the force,” Jara wrote.
The decision not to place Cooper on restrictive duty was ultimately reversed by then-Deputy Chief Ron Winegar. Henson found that Winegar “properly reversed” Lee’s decision. He wrote that if Cooper was involved in a critical incident, like a shooting, the liability to the city could be conflated with a “propensity and failure to supervise claims.”
A Boise officer threw a handcuffed Black teen to the ground. Chief calls it unacceptable
At the same time, Henson said Lee didn’t violate any policies when it came to Cooper’s status. Henson said Lee was authorized to refuse an Internal Affairs recommendation, and that the reversal couldn’t have occurred without Lee’s knowledge.
3. Lee accused of hiring Portland officers with ‘questionable’ pasts
In a third complaint, Jara reported concern that Lee had hired two former co-workers from his former department, the Portland Police Bureau, without properly vetting them through the Boise Police Department, and that they had “questionable histories.”
It’s not fully clear what those histories were, as that portion of Jara’s report is redacted, though Henson’s report says that one of the officers had a history of “questionable sexual conduct.”
Professional Standards Division Captain Tom Fleming, who oversaw recruitment and the Office of Internal Affairs, told Jara that he would have recommended hiring the first officer but not the officer who had the questionable sexual conduct. It isn’t clear from the documents whether Fleming actually made that recommendation or was just telling Jara what he would have done. Fleming has since left the department and sued the city, accusing Lee of discriminating and retaliating against him for conducting internal affairs investigations — including the investigation into Green.
“The chief has discretion in hiring decisions for his department,” Henson wrote.
Henson added that Lee didn’t violate any policies and that there would be a conflict of interest only if Lee was related to or in a relationship with either of the officers.
Complaints accuse Lee of retaliation
Several sections in Jara’s report detail complaints that Lee retaliated against subordinates for perceived slights, blocking some from professional opportunities and in one case publicly humiliating — and injuring — an officer during a demonstration of a neck restraint.
4. Lee injured subordinate in retaliation for K9 program dispute, sergeant says
One complaint relays an incident that received substantial media attention at the time. In October 2021, during a meeting, Lee demonstrated two types of neck restraint holds on Boise Police Sgt. Kirk Rush and seriously injured Rush’s neck, according to a lawsuit Rush later filed.
Rush has alleged that Lee’s decision to demonstrate a restraint procedure on him was “in retaliation” for a disagreement about whether the department’s police dogs should bite or bark when they locate a suspect. Officers train dogs to bite suspects, and Lee was advocating to change the policy, the Statesman previously reported.
According to Jara’s report, department employees who met with Jara — and were also filing complaints with Jara against Lee — agreed that Rush was “specifically targeted” in this instance. However, Jara’s report also says ”it is believed” that Lee asked Rush to the front of the room because the two had just been discussing a neck-restraint technique in the meeting, though Rush himself “does not recall” why the chief asked him to come to the front. Lee previously described his interactions with Rush around the K-9 program as “cordial disagreement,” the Statesman reported.
Henson said Lee’s intent would be a “critical element for a criminal charge,” adding that Rush’s conclusion as to why Lee selected him for the demonstration was “speculative.”
The Clearwater County prosecutor separately investigated this incident in 2022 to determine whether there was sufficient evidence to charge Lee with a crime. Months after Henson’s report, the prosecutor, Clayne Tyler, decided not to press charges but called the case a “close call,” saying there was probable cause to support a criminal charge of felony battery but insufficient evidence to prove the offense “beyond a reasonable doubt,” the Statesman previously reported.
More than a year after Lee left Boise, Lee received a written reprimand from the Police Department for his role in this incident. He was not given an opportunity to respond to the allegations within the department, his attorney, Mauk, told the Statesman.
“This investigation, unbeknownst to him, continued after he left the department and reached the conclusion — without even talking to Ryan Lee,” Mauk said.
5. Dispute over hybrid vehicles led to retaliation
Two additional complaints — including from a high-ranking member of the department’s command staff — reported accusations that Lee blocked officers’ advancement and some professional opportunities because of disagreements about how the department’s vehicle patrol fleet should operate.
Captain Matt Jones, who oversees the criminal investigations division, said he reported to Lee — who was advocating to incorporate more hybrid and electric vehicles into the force — that the department’s hybrid vehicles weren’t performing well in high-speed situations.
After that conversation, Jones fell out of favor with Lee, according to Jara’s report. Jones claimed it eventually led to him being removed as the department’s fleet manager.
Jones’ name is redacted from the report, but he is identifiable by his title as the department’s criminal investigations captain.
Henson’s review said Lee had “absolute discretion” to make personnel changes, and that disagreements with “management style” or the chief’s decisions shouldn’t warrant placing Lee on administrative leave, as Jara recommended.
In a related complaint, a Boise police sergeant, whose name is redacted in the report, also reported concerns about the hybrid vehicles and got backing from another police captain.
The sergeant put together an email with data that he asked Jones to look over. “Captain Jones allegedly told (the sergeant) that if he sent the results up the chain of command — that he would be placed on the chief’s negative list,” the report said.
The data led Lee to change the department’s purchase order, though the sergeant said Lee “became angry” about not being able to complete his goal of converting the fleet to all-hybrid and blamed the sergeant’s team. The sergeant alleged Lee later retaliated against him by opening a separate investigation into the sergeant over lost equipment.
“It is this author’s opinion that Sergeant [redacted] concerns should not have been included in the concerns by the (Office of Police Accountability) investigation,” Henson wrote.
6. Officer said Lee put his career ‘on pause’
In a separate case, a lieutenant complained that, because Lee believed he had insufficiently disciplined an officer who bragged in 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, that he would not observe city mask mandates, Lee had put the lieutenant’s career “on pause.” Ever since their disagreement about discipline, the lieutenant perceived that Lee showed “distaste” toward him, commenting at one point that he wasn’t “smart enough” to resolve a staffing problem.
The lieutenant said Lee denied him an opportunity to step in for then-Patrol Captain Matt Bryngelson when Bryngelson took time off for mental-health treatment. While the report doesn’t name Bryngelson, it identifies him as the captain of the department’s patrol division, which Bryngelson was at the time. Henson wrote that these concerns should not have been included in Jara’s report, as they reflect only a “perception by the chief” that this officer “is not suited for his current responsibilities.”
Creating a hostile work environment
Multiple complaints in Jara’s report allege that Lee acted unprofessionally in the office, repeatedly yelling at subordinates, revealing acaptain’s private medical information, and making inappropriate comments about his own personal life.
7. Lee frustrated over the discipline of an officer
In early 2021, Lee expressed anger at the insubordination of the officer who bragged about disobeying a mask mandate. The officer, whose name is redacted in the court filings, posted on the police union’s website that he would not comply with city mask mandates or ask his patrol team to arrest people not wearing a mask, according to Jara’s report.
The Office of Internal Affairs investigated the officer, who was disciplined and demoted. But Lee thought the consequences the officer faced were insufficient. According to Jara’s report, Lee yelled at an investigator that the outcome of the investigation was (obscenity) and that the Office of Internal Affairs had the “power to put people into their place.”
Subsequently, Lee expressed to the investigator his frustration with a lieutenant’s approach to disciplining the demoted officer. This was the same lieutenant who said he was passed over for captain. Lee, referring to the lieutenant, said he was “gonna take that guy and string him up the flagpole,” according to Jara’s report.
Henson found that complaints about Lee’s interactions with the investigator “contain[ed] no facts” to suggest that Lee committed a criminal or policy violation. Henson said a police chief should have “absolute discretion” on personnel matters, including discipline. Henson assessed the complaint as “primarily a disagreement with management style.”
8. Lee accused of violating the privacy of a former captain
In a separate case later in 2021, Lee made inappropriate comments and violated the privacy of Bryngelson, the captain with a mental-health problem, according to Jara’s report. After telling Bryngelson he would keep his mental health issues “top secret” amid his treatment, Lee then told another officer about it, according to the report.
Bryngelson said it was Lee’s “negativity and hostility” in the workplace that led to his mental-health struggles, according to Jara’s report. Bryngelson publicly acknowledged his mental-health struggle in a September 2022 interview with KTVB.
Henson wrote that he would need more information — specifically, the city’s employee policy handbook — to assess whether Lee violated city policy. With that information, he said, “further evaluation may be warranted for counseling and/or corrective action” for Lee.
Mauk invoked to the Statesman widely publicized revelations that Bryngelson was scheduled to speak at a white-supremacist conference, and had authored racist posts on the organization’s website, suggesting these beliefs may have been a driver of his complaints against Lee, who is Chinese-American.
“Think about the source of this complaint,” Mauk said.
He also pointed to concerns that officers of color who were hired from outside agencies didn’t feel comfortable in the Boise Police Department, adding that at least two officers who are people of color resigned soon after Lee did.
Black people are a small minority in Ada County. They are arrested 3.5 times more often
9. Complainant says Lee downplayed domestic dispute
In a separate case in 2021, Lee pushed back on an Internal Affairs investigation into an accusation that a Boise officer — whose name is redacted in the filings — had been involved in a verbal domestic dispute. According to Jara’s report, Lee told an investigator that he believed the officer’s wife was “overreacting” and, referring to himself, said he“yells at his wife” all the time.
When an Internal Affairs investigator contacted the officer’s wife, the wife said that the dispute “hadn’t turned physical in any way” and that she was concerned about her husband and suggested the department get him some counseling, according to Jara’s report.
Jara wrote that Lee’s “downplaying” of the concerns about the officer represented a missed opportunity for counseling.
In his review, Henson said this point was “well-received” but that he didn’t believe the issue belonged in Jara’s report. Henson found that complaints about Lee’s interactions with the investigator “contain[ed] no facts” to support the idea that Lee committed a criminal or policy violation. Henson wrote that he saw no connection between Lee’s conduct and the investigation itself.
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