Tort claim against city, alleges breach of duty

BONNERS FERRY — The city received a tort claim in April, a possible precursor of a lawsuit, alleging Bonners Ferry officials failed to keep students safe, among other claims, and seeking $500,000 in damages.

The tort said the parent has multiple claims against the Boundary County School District, Bonners Ferry Police Department and a school resources officer “including but not limited to a breach of duty to ensure the safety of students, negligent hiring and retention, harassment, retaliation and negligent infliction of emotional distress.”

The tort argues a volunteer BCSD coach allegedly has a “substantial criminal history” and should have been disqualified for volunteering.

The individual cited in the tort is not named in this article since there are no charges filed against them in connection to the claims in the tort.

D. Colton Boyles, of Boyles Law in Sandpoint, represented a parent of the Boundary County Middle School child.

Boyles claims in the tort that the child was “forced out of sports due to inappropriate touching and harassment.”

Boyles, previously of Davillier Law Group, has also represented Summer Bushnell, a Kootenai County blogger in a defamation lawsuit connected to the 2022 Pride Festival in Coeur d’Alene. His name also appeared in an amicus brief showing Idaho’s support for the lawsuit challenging election procedures in connection to the 2020 election.

In August 2019, Boyles, on behalf of the Bonner County commissioners, drafted a letter to the city of Sandpoint warning city officials of the alleged unconstitutionality of The Festival at Sandpoint’s gun ban policy. This then became a legal complaint. A year later a district judge ruled the county lacked the standing necessary to bring the complaint before the court.

The volunteer coach in question was cited on a misdemeanor petit theft charge in 2012 in Bonner County and has an active warrant out of Flathead County, Mont., for issuing a bad check-in 2007. Bond is set at $500 for the active warrant.

There is no timeline listed in the tort for when the city is to respond.

Claims of inappropriate contact with children against a local sports volunteer first spread across local media groups on Sept. 15, 2022. At that time, no charges have been filed against the individual and still have not.

On Sept. 15, Bonners Ferry Police Chief Brian Zimmerman said the police department had not been notified of the allegations.

Zimmerman told the Bonners Ferry Herald he informed the school resource officer of the allegations and a preliminary investigation began. Also on Sept. 15, Boundary County School District Superintendent Jan Bayer told the Herald she was made aware of the post and is looking into the matter.