Concerned citizens rally against police violence on the Broadway bridge in Idaho Falls on Saturday afternoon. | Courtesy Jeremy Herman
IDAHO FALLS – A series of recent shootings involving officers across eastern Idaho led a local group to hold a rally in Idaho Falls on Saturday afternoon.
Members of a group called Citizens for Accountability, Advocacy and Public Safety held a protest on the Broadway bridge in Idaho Falls, from 2:00 pm to 2:30 pm, to speak out against police violence.
“We are a group of people concerned about the state of the shootings in eastern Idaho and we are especially frustrated with the Idaho Falls Police Department and the shooting that took place a few weeks ago (involving Joe Johnson and Officer Elias Cerdas),” – event organizer, Jeremy Herman, told EastIdahoNews.com.
Investigators saw a wave of shootings involving police in eastern Idaho over a 10-day period earlier this month. Shootings took place in Pocatello, Rexburg and Bingham County, all demanding resources from the Eastern Idaho Critical Incident Task Force, which investigates these cases.
Idaho Falls resident Joe Johnson was shot and killed in his backyard in the early hours of the morning of February 8, while officers chased 22-year-old Tanner Shoesmith, who was fleeing a traffic stop. Shoesmith was reportedly armed and had a violent history with the authorities.
During the incident, the police found Johnson, who lived in the area. Johnson was armed and dressed similarly to Shoesmith. It is unclear exactly what happened, but during the incident, police officer Elias Cerdas shot and killed Johnson.
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“This is an officer who recently completed training,” says Herman. “These trainings and policies should have prevented such a tragedy from happening. From my conversations with the mayor and the police chief last year – which they told me is based on commanding and controlling the situation, rather than protecting themselves, approaching cautiously and trying to avoid shooting – there seems to be no interest in changing the culture of shooting first and asking questions later. “
Herman hopes that disciplinary action will be taken against the police officer responsible for shooting the victim. He is calling on the mayor and the chief of police to reform the police department’s policy on how to deal with shootings to prevent something like this from happening again.
Idaho Falls Police Department spokeswoman Jessica Clements said she cannot speak about this specific incident now because it is still under investigation, but the police department does not have a policy that involves shooting first and asking questions later.
“We need the results of this investigation to assess whether current policies and training have been followed or not, and therefore whether current policies and training are the best possible or not,” says Clements. “Making changes to policies and training based on incomplete data and partial details is meaningless and would not result in meaningful policies or best practices, which is what we all want.”
Clements says it is difficult to be patient because of how tragic the situation is and that the goal is to be open and honest with the public.
“In fact, we want to answer these questions. At the moment, we are waiting for more information so that we can do this ”, says Clements.
A timetable for when the investigation will be completed has not been released.
Herman says there was a lot of support from the community during Saturday’s rally. About 20 people attended the event. Others involved in the organization include Kimberly Zwygart, Elizabeth Cogliati and Katrin Lepler.