Jack Yantis And The Bull Are Dead (Updated)

The details are about as far away from the usual cop killing as they come.  Jack Yantis was a rancher in Idaho, which is a state somewhere in the middle of nowhere.  That’s why they let their cows and bulls roam on the open plain. And by open plain, that includes U.S. 95, a highway where cars drive. It makes no sense to me, but then, I’m really not on top of bull issues.

It began with a phone call to Yantis from the Adams County Sheriff’s Office dispatcher.  The Yantis’ lived “near milepost 142 of U.S. 95, about 6 miles north of Council,” and apparently one of their “2,500-pound black Gelbvieh bulls, similar to an Angus, named Keiford” was hit by a Subaru station wagon. Apparently, it was left to Yantis, who was having a nice dinner with his friend, Rowdy Paradis, to put his bull down and clean up the mess.  Off they went, with Mrs. Yantis, to deal with the bull.

Jack Yantis told Paradis to get a rifle, the family’s skid-steer loader (a small front-end loader) and a chain. Paradis in turn asked his aunt to the get the family’s .204-caliber rifle and bring it to the road.

While Paradis was getting the skid loader, the deputies started shooting at the bull. At least one of them had a semiautomatic rifle, perhaps an AR-15, an adaptation of the military M16.

While there appears to be an unwarranted concern about what rifles were used, there didn’t appear to be any working knowledge by the deputies about how to put down a bull. They did plenty of shooting, but not enough to do more than piss off a wounded bull. That’s not a good thing.

Paradis drove the skid loader down the driveway and parked on the highway. The bull was lying on the pavement. Donna Yantis had walked the rifle to her husband. Jack Yantis was standing about 4 feet from the bull, aiming the rifle at the back of the bull’s head. His back was to the two deputies, who were standing in the far lane facing each other as if they were having a conversation.

“Everything was going as planned. … I did not notice any conversation at all” between Jack Yantis and the deputies, Paradis said. “Then the one cop turned around and grabbed his shoulder and jerked him backwards.”

The deputy came from behind, spun Yantis around and grabbed the rifle’s scope, Paradis said.

Why this happened is anybody’s guess. But from there it went south.

Paradis said he does not know whether the rifle fired, but he thinks it might have discharged accidentally when the deputy grabbed Yantis and spun him, or when one of the deputy’s bullets pierced Yantis’ hand holding the rifle, hitting the gun and damaging it.

One deputy began shooting at Yantis, then the other deputy started shooting.

And unlike the bull, the bullets had a significant impact on Yantis, who died. His wife and Paradis tried to come to Yantis’ aid, but were thrown to the ground and cuffed, where Donna Yantis suffered a heart attack.

One deputy said he had been grazed by a bullet, Rumsey said. “I asked him, ‘Where?’ I said, ‘That’s bull—-.’ There was no blood, no torn thread, no powder burn. There was nothing.”

After the shooting, Paradis said, the deputies’ demeanor was “smug” and “almost celebratory.”

A deputy walked over, pulled Yantis’ rifle from under his body and threw it into the grass.

“There was no shootout. It was a senseless murder,” the Yantis’ daughter, Sarah, told the Statesman.

Curiously, the bull was still alive.  There is much about this killing that falls far outside a city slicker’s scope of experience.  But then, this didn’t happen in Manhattan, and so can’t be judged by metropolitan sensibilities.  From the fact that it was initiated by a call from the sheriff’s department to go deal with the bull, one can reasonably infer that this sort of thing, a bull getting hit by a car (though more likely a Ford than a Subaru), happens occasionally.  So too does the need for a rancher to have the appropriate caliber rifle and readily available skid loader.  These are in short supply in the city when a bull gets struck by a Checker cab.

And it’s not as if Jack Yantis was some unknown street waif the cops could toss off as just another nonhuman on the streets, the loss of which would mean nothing to their neighbors on Staten Island.  He was a rancher. He had a bull. The Adams County Sheriff’s Department know how to reach him.

So why in the world would the deputies have killed Jack Yantis for doing what he was asked to do?

The Adams County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment on the Statesman‘s story. In a statement issued last week, spokeswoman Teresa Baker said that the Sheriff’s Office is “committed to complete a thorough investigation into this incident to determine exactly what transpired.”

While deeply heartwarming to know that even in Adams County, Idaho, they use the same playbook as the big city to avoid having to explain why some local rancher just got mowed down on U.S. 95, this isn’t a deep mystery to figure out. Your deputies shot him.  Why?

That Yantis had a gun offers no good reason. Ranchers have guns. It comes with the territory.  That Yantis was going to put down his bull offers no good reason, since that’s what he was called to do.  So why, as he was aiming at the back of the bull’s head, did a deputy grab him, grab his rifle, pull him?

Did he fire when he was yanked? Maybe, but if so, so what?  Did his errant bullet hit a deputy?  Maybe, or maybe not, but so what?  It’s not like he was trying to shoot at a deputy, and would likely have aimed true had the deputy not yanked his rifle.

Or did a deputy, upon an errant bullet being fired, get scared and mindlessly start shooting at Yantis, because that’s what scared deputies do? And then the other deputy joined in, because that too is what deputies do?  Maybe, in the ranch world of Idaho, a couple of cowardly idiots with shields won’t make for a good story for the newspapers, so the Adams County Sheriff figures the best answer is to say nothing.  After all, if you offer no explanation for needlessly killing a rancher, then who can call bull?

Update:  In the Idaho Stateman, US Attorney Wendy Olson and US Marshal Brian T. Underwood murder a thousand words without saying anything substantive whatsoever. It begins:

Building relationships of trust between law enforcement officers and the communities we serve is the top priority of the U.S. Department of Justice. We have long shared that commitment in Idaho. This is vital work. Our public safety depends upon the bonds that police officers, deputies and federal agents share with the residents they protect.

It never gets any better.

39 thoughts on “Jack Yantis And The Bull Are Dead (Updated)

  1. DaveL

    Of course, this is the narrative from the Yantis camp, so we can’t be sure things went down quite as described. Still, the only explanation being offered by the police so far falls along the lines of the usual “he had a gun, yada yada yada, something something, we shot him dead” which isn’t very reassuring.

      1. David Grierson

        The murder of Jack Yantis was a choice, they were not in any danger ; they cared not for the man’s life, and showed no interest in his death ; it was a murder of Convenience, one where the police cowards are always the victims, even when it’s very very obvious that they were NEVER in any real danger ; police are not only NOT fair minded, they lack courage, they lack moral integrity.

    1. Jess

      The story from the people who hit the bull in the Subaru and the the witnesses to the wreck also have the same story at the ” Yantis camp”

      1. Sammy

        Mr. Darrah claims to have been in the first car in front of the accident. He said “…they told him to put the rifle down and he didn’t, so one of the the rookie cops opened fire on him. ”
        That conflicts with Mr. Paradis’ story…that he was grabbed and spun around with no warning, and immediately fired upon when his weapon discharged.

  2. losingtrader

    “…a state somewhere in the middle of nowhere…”

    I hope you’ve cut potatoes out of the diet.

  3. Richard G. Kopf

    SHG,

    This is a weird case for many reasons. Ranchers face civil liability if their cattle stray onto the public highways and they don’t act to remedy the problem. See, for example, Jim Jansen, Extension Educator, and, Dave Aiken Agricultural Law Specialist, Liability of Cattle Involved in Motor Vehicle Collisions, UNL Beef Watch, (September 01, 2014). Thus, one would expect a rancher to do exactly what this one did–shoot the bull in the back of the head from close range while praying to the almighty that no one in the Subaru station wagon knew a good PI lawyer from the big city.*

    All the best.

    RGK

    * I would remiss if I failed to add that the fact a Subaru was involved is very suspicious. No self-respecting local would be found dead driving one of those damn things. Ergo, the driver was looking for trouble. Trying to run over a bull with a Subaru is the definition of animal cruelty. Call PETA!

    1. SHG Post author

      I was sure you would be able to shed light on this case. And the Subaru piece was a clear slap in the face to all of us.

    2. DaveL

      From what I understand, the area where the accident occurred was “Open Range” land where the usual liability relationships are reversed from what might seem intuitive to city dwellers. On “Open Range”, livestock are assumed to have the run of the land (and right of way on the road), and anybody who doesn’t want animals wandering onto their land must fence them *out*.

    3. John Barleycorn

      Idaho Code, Chapter 25 section 2118states that :

      “No person owning, or controlling the possession of, any domestic animal running on open range, shall have the duty to keep such animal off any highway on such range, and shall not be liable to any vehicle or for injury to any person riding therein, caused by collision between the vehicle and the animal.”

      Also note that in the 1999 case Adamson v. Blanchard, the Idaho Supreme Court held that livestock owners enjoy absolute immunity with respect to animals that wander onto public highways.

      Needless to say I am a bit off the reservation here and can not speak with any athority on any civil or criminal liability Mr. Jack Yantis might have faced had he told the dispatcher that he would stroll down after dinner and salvage the carcass. (Not sure about the laws in Nebraska or any federal laws that may be applicable but in Idaho open range country it coukd be that The Robed Rider from Nebraska may be incorrect?

      But Mr. Yantis wasn’t a tiger happy armed barbarian, who may have been well within the law to tell the dispatcher “no thanks” as he was enjoying his dinner.

      He wasn’t the type of man to hide behind the absolute immunity of the open range statutes.

      Nope! He was just a rancher trying to keep the peace and help clear the right away…

      RIP Jack

            1. John Barleycorn

              Well, thank you esteemed one. But we can’t be having some one-off cogent back page comment messing with my hard earned reputation around here.

              And seeing as though I always get a little nostalgic when the judge honors us with a visit to your back pages or writes a one-off article at that uptown Fault Line Cafe, now seems as good a time as any to poke and heckle him from the cheap seats a little bit. Seeing as how he decided to take early retirement from the blawging feild before things escalated to an “unamaginable” frenzy of clarity that might have brought any bad mojo to an instution that certainly doesn’t need any “unamaginably” clarity. I also must admit I am always mildly amused and slightly annoyed whenever you make a “fly over” or “middle of nowhere refrence”. Which always gets me feeling wordy.

              So, since you mentioned it and are letting this get out of hand already, I best set my scribbles free and let you know about how this post also got me to thinking about some non linear connections…that I have been thinking about.

              It is true, I am not too sure about the middle of “somewhere” but in the middle of “nowhere” patience and calm persistence used to be nearly universally taken for granted before anything of any real consequence “escalated”. Which is posibilly one of the reasons I am still alive.

              But “nowadays” who knows…Even way, way, way…way out here in the middle of the nowhere.

              But as painful as it is for me to be cogent, (which is very painful) myself and a few of your other readers that inhabit these “in the middle of nowhere places” throughout the country do consider it our duty, not to make those of your readers that inhabit those “in the middle of somewhere places” and “in-between nowhere and somewhere places” any “stupider” than they already are. ; ) When we can prevent it which isn’t all that often, but we do what we can.

              That of course is while “we” are not learning some pretty amazing and interesting stuff, that we probably ought to know unfortunately or not, from the likes of yourself and your guilded blawging peers.

              Afterall, it is all you guys from somewhere who all of “us” from nowhere put in charge of settling up all the scores for some reason that probably made sense once upon a time.

              Anyway, not to name all the names but far too mamy of your blawiging peers have let others or themselves or a combination thereof convince them to put down the mightiest sword of them all.

              And seeing as how far the train is already off the tracks, even out here in the middle of nowhere…, I don’t even want to think about how far off the tracks the current momentum could take things off the tracks. And it’s always with at least some consolation to know there are a few that put quite a bit of information out there for all to see as they themselves start to consider if things are off the tracks and if so just how far.

              Anyway, not that you need to hear it nor to inflate the size of your “tractor”, but you in particular, amongst your guilded writting peers, are uniquely patient (which many of your “somewhere” readers eyes fail to notice for some reason) and you are without a doubt with a very calm persestance.

              So, may Jack and all those that preceded and are sure to follow him RIP and may you always keep going about raising that mighty sword of yours about incidents such as this and others as you go about sharing the things you know you know from all those years doing the things you do in the epicenter of the “somewhere” because what you do is pretty amazing, even if you are from tge epicenter of somewhere.

              Too bad all the simple justice in the land, both far wide is officially adjudicated in the “somewhere places” as you would be a welcome addition to the nowhere neighborhood even if you don’t own a real tractor.

              P.S. Not to add to the speculation of the last few paragraphs of your post but out here in nowhere there isn’t any speculating as to wheather or not the deputy who got Jack killed and all the deputies that played a part in the killing of Jack will play from the bottom of the deck of justifications, every last card the citizens of “somewhere places” allowed their legislators to slip into the deck over the years because they were afraid of the dark. The silence is just them waiting for things to settle down a bit before they play them.

              P.S.S. Just for the record and as to not leave anyone from “nowhere” out, why is it that when I travel there seems to be more and more neighborhoods smack dab in the middles and on the outskirts of somewheres and in between somewheres that are also starting to feel a whole lot like the middle of nowheres even if they don’t look like it?

              TL;DR I miss Hercules and the Umpire and a few thoughts on nowhere and somewhere and a gold star for our host to put on his lapel tonight as he rides the train from the epicenter of somewhere to wherever it is he eats his supper.

              http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6knhiDNkSyo

    4. dm

      Judge Kopf,
      Out here in the “New West” a Subaru is not just for elite granola types from Boulder. I once even saw a Subaru dealership in Wyoming (it’s true!).
      Nonetheless, the only reason I can think of for the officers yanking the gun away (if they did) is fear of a ricochet off the bull’s skull. The .204 rifle is certainly capable of killing a bull at close range, but it’s such a light bullet that the chances of a ricochet off the skull is relatively high.
      This is really a weird story given that, as the article notes, rural law enforcers are not usually particularly “skittish” about the fact that lot’s of folks are carrying firearms.

      1. SongDog09

        .204 actually has very little chance of ricochet, its an extremely fast light bullet 20-40 gr projectile, flying at around 4000 fps, there are no cheap FMJ surplus projectiles out there for the .204. Out here in Idaho we put our cattle in the freezer using .22 lr on a regular basis, a .204 was the correct tool for the job.

    5. losingtrader

      Judge, how long have you been reading University of Nebraska Lincoln Beef Watch ? Can I get a subscription? I’d like to switch from Proust.

      1. Richard G. Kopf

        longtrader,

        I read Beef Watch every night before I lay my head down to sleep. As for Proust, he was a sickly little French bastard unworthy of being included in the same universe as Beef Watch.

        And, of course, I can get you a subscription to Beef Watch provided you burn your copy of “In Search of Lost Time.” Which reminds me, real men don’t read Proust. (Well, given Proust’s bio, that is not exactly true.)

        In Remembrance of Things Past, I remain,

        Most Sincerely Yours, while extending all the best in the same breathe,

        RGK

        1. Anna G

          As a Subaru driving ( complete with Bernie sticker) Proust reading Council Idaho resident, I feel compelled to comment here. Mostly details…

          Most open range around here is a concept rather than actual unfenced areas. In this particular instance the bull had escaped from a fenced area. I can definitely say that black animals at night are almost impossible to see in time to stop when driving at normal highway sppeds, 55 mph in that area. They are a common hazard in these parts, as the National Forest and State land is not adequately fenced. Common practice in the fall is to open the forest gates round up the easy ones, and let the rest of the cattle find their way home before the snow.

          Personally I feel that this incident shows how far over the edge the police have gone in terms of excessive force. Zollman is young and reflects the new policing principles seen nationally…any problems, light em up. No one here can imagine this happening under the previous chief’s term. Adams County has an extremely low crime rate, and this kind of situation- cattle on the highway – happens all the time. It is hard to make sense of why the deputy grabbed Jack when he was clearly preparing to proceed in what is a routine procedure. I am sure he wasn’t the happiest camper at that moment, putting down a bull he knew well enough to name that had just been gutshot by deputies, but no one there and no one in this town who knew him can imagine that he was threatening people. The sequence seems to be he was preparing to shoot the bull, the deputy jerks him up, the gun goes off,( his finger was probably on the trigger), and the cops start blasting. One piece of info from the gossip mill was that there was a bullet hole in the side of his rifle barrel.

          The latest is that Gerry Spence’s firm (Ruby Ridge) will be assisting in the case. Welcome to the circus. I really hope that this can be seen for what it is, the police gradually adopting the rules of a military occupying force rather than protectors of a community, instead of some right wing left wing battle. Thank you for writing about this. [Ed. Note: Thank who?]

          Btw, there are TONS of Subarus out here in snow country, 4wd, good mileage, never break. Not so many Proust readers though. Not many try, even fewer succeed!

          1. SHG Post author

            Very thoughtful of you to explain your personal feelings about the problem of excessive force and who Gerry Spence is (Ruby Ridge) to lawyers at a criminal defense blawg. I’m sure US District Judge Kopf is similarly appreciative of your thoughts. But I still don’t understand why you thanked him for writing this, unless you meant his comment.

            1. Anna G

              Oh dear, a thousand apologies for the uninvited intrusion and flawed delivery.
              One correction, I meant to say rifle stock instead of rifle barrel.

            2. SHG Post author

              No need to apologize, and you are certainly welcome. Just wanted you to understand the lay of the land so that any thoughts could be better tailored to the audience. It’s not that anyone disagrees with you, but that this is what we do.

    6. Tom Lowe

      Sorry, but federal open range laws stipulate that drivers are to yield to livestock in open range areas. In this case, the people driving the Subaru are liable for all damages, and their insurance company will have to pay. BTW they are from Nampa, Idaho, located in the flat farm lands of the southern part of the state known as the Snake River Valley. To the people of Council, they would be considered “Flatlanders” ignorant of proper mountain driving technique. And this incident is one more example of that for them.

      The case you describe is where there is not open range, in which case the livestock would normally be contained by a fence and not have access to a roadway. In that case, if livestock escapes and causes problems, then the rancher is indeed liable. This is generally the case in states that have little or no federal land, as well as private ranches bordering roadways in other states.

      The open range/closed range debate is long and very historical. Google the Johnson County War of Wyoming for a good review of the history of the issue. Later stages of the issue revolve around roads, improvements made by grazing rights holders, and access to resources, (see Bundy Ranch for an example), while the earlier issues revolved around free range sheep destroying cattle grazing lands because they mowed the prairie grass too close to the ground to sustain cattle grazing (see Johnson County War for examples).

      Aside from perhaps protecting personnel and bystanders at the site, Yantis was shooting the bull for humanitarian reasons, and attempting to do it in a way that would preserve the value of the many hundreds of pounds of beef, worth thousands if it were from a commercial beef production cow. In a case like this, the Yantis family would have consumed the meat or given it away, or most likely, a combination of both.

    7. erlan venable

      One large point you dont seem to realize, this is in “open Range ” area. In open range the driver of the car can be held responsible for running into and killing cattle who may have wandered onto the roadway. A lot different in a legal way. I have a uncle that hit and killed a open range bull and almost killed his wife. He found that because of the “OPEN RANGE” law not only could they not sue the bull’s owner, they could have been forced to pay for the bull.

  4. Alex Bunin

    Look for more of these misunderstandings when “Open Carry” goes into effect in Texas on January 1, 2016.

  5. losingtrader

    Wowzy wow wow John is 2 for 2 in easily intelligible posts. My World has been turned upside down. Time foe a xanax….
    Quite certain he should challenge the judge to a tractor race.

    1. John Barleycorn

      FYI loosing trader. It’s probably a very bad idea to insinuate that any of my comments, that fail to comprehend even the outer limits of concise, are readily cogent.

      I am not a vain man but things can get out of hand rather quickly if I forget to take a nap or slip up on my vitamin regiment. I don’t necessarily mind the results, but just saying…

      P.S. A word to the wise. The esteemed one has failed to change the font or color of his reply button but he is still known to be nearly as sensitive about its purpose as he is about insisting upon on topic discussion in his back pages. Go figure?

      One thing I have figured out though is that I am never the topic. It really huts my feelz but my triage therapist insists it’s good for me.

      P.S.S. I for one welcome you to the back pages of this delicious blawg. I don’t count but nonetheless.

  6. Lisa Eldridge

    I can’t help myself but to comment on this article. I want to set people who fail to understand what Idahos open range laws really mean for the rest of the world. The cattle in Idaho are NOT just roaming free and found scattered on all the highways. The cattle in Idaho, with exception to a few very very rural areas with no major highways going through them are contained by fences. No rancher wants his cattle on the roads anymore than any city slicker wants to meet one of them on a blind corner after dark. These animals are very important to the men and women, so in no way would they want to jeopardize the well being of the herd. Not to mention every one of these ranchers also drive these same highways as do their own family members. The fact that nearly every single article written has stated something to the effect of welfare ranchers letting their cattle eat off of my public land to “That’s why they let their cows and bulls roam on the open plain. And by open plain, that includes U.S. 95, a highway where cars drive. It makes no sense to me, but then, I’m really not on top of bull issues.” really shows just how out of touch people really are in this day and age with what goes on 100 miles down the road from where they inhabit. Open range laws are meant to protect ranchers from frivolous lawsuits from people just like the ones who hit this bull. Animals do not read signs, and they don’t always do what we want them to do. And fences get torn down by wildlife like deer and elk, as well as people not paying attention or driving to fast taking out whole strings of fence and then fail to report it because they don’t want to pay for the fence or receive a ticket for careless driving. These uncontrollable situations are the very reason open range laws exist. Ranchers do everything in their power to keep their own stock safe from the likes of you all who don’t understand that defensive driving is a must in areas like this. The least of your worries when traveling through Idaho is hitting livestock. You should be much more concerned of coming around any corner of the state and hitting a herd of elk or deer, not to mention several turkey, which by the way could be in flight and soaring low to the ground from take off or prepared landing. One of those through a windshield is no party. I have lived my entire life in Idaho and grew up on a ranch, and out of the 32 years I have been driving, I have maybe encountered cattle on the roads once a years, but I have seen game on these same roads once a day at least. And after dark, which is when they hit the bull, you may have to hit your brakes 20 times in a 50 mile stretch for deer and elk crossing.

  7. cary

    “Protect and Serve”…. yeah right. Time for the police to change there motto to something more along the lines of “Oppression and Murder”. Stop the militarization of the police force!

  8. Dave

    I’m from the “city” (yea, yea hold the comments) and own a second residence in this area of Idaho. We were at our second house when this incident took place. I cannot think of how this incident could have unfolded leaving a 62 year old man dead. He was summond to the location by law enforcement to “take care” of a wounded bull. I base this thought on having a little less than 27 years field experience at this time, with a large (8000+) metropolitan police department.
    This incident is tragic for the family and deputies involved. I say the deputies, because of of their lack of experience and training. The Sheriff is very young and inexperienced also, so with those two factors combined it turns into tragedy for this ranchers’ family.
    I do not believe that ISP has the experience or training to process and investigate this complex of an incident. The FBI joining the investigation is good, but they were not there the night it happened and will never be able to re-construct the crime scene to conduct a full and proper investigation. The FBI will have to refer to ISP documentation of the crime scene and hope there was no missed evidence, interviews, ETC.
    The fact is, the Deputies and Sheriff involved are all very inexperienced and severly lack training and discipline. I’m sure the Sheriff’s office policy and procedure involving body and vehicle cams, use of deadly force, ETC, is severly lacking, if even existent.
    Yes, I’m looking in from the outside and yes, I’m from the “City”, but with that said facts are the facts. An Adams County Deputy with 15 years experience may be equal to a deputy with a few months on in a larger metropolitan agency.
    Open range is the least of what everyone should be worried about. Start with better training for the officers and voting in a Sheriff with some real policing experience.

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