
(UnitedVoice.com) – Public officials are held to a higher standard than the average citizen, and for good reason. People have to be able to trust the people who are making laws and ordinances have their best interests in mind. An Idaho county commissioner reportedly missed that memo when he was elected.
On November 25, 2022, San Juan County Commissioner Bruce Adams arrived on scene where his son, Kenneth Adams, was being arrested by law enforcement officers. The younger man had an outstanding warrant related to a burglary that took place in 2020. His father was there to pick up his car, but instead picked a fight with the police.
When the local commissioner arrived on the scene, he was immediately aggressive with officers. Police body camera footage shows Commissioner Adams immediately demanding to see the “mother[expletive] warrant right away.” One of the officers on scene, Deputy Wyatt Holyoak, explained what happened in the report that journalists with KUTV viewed. The law enforcement officer told the angry commissioner that he could not show him “personal returns on [the police] computer.”
Holyoak reportedly wrote that Adams began to try to “intimidate” him by attempting to “use his influence as a county commissioner” to give him information that he was not allowed to hand over. The deputy called his supervisor and received permission to show the commissioner the warrant.
Adams told the deputy that he wanted him to turn his son loose. Holyoak responded that he wasn’t able to do that. A video of the incident showed the commissioner angrily ask, “Do you want me to sue the son-of-a-[expletive] county sheriff because he arrested my kid on a false warrant?”
According to KUTV, the police report states that after the incident, Commissioner Adams called the department’s lead investigator, Alan Freestone, to complain his son was arrested. The investigator then placed a call to the court clerk at home, who confirmed the warrant against Kenneth Adams was active and valid. Adams told the local news station that his behavior was not appropriate and “embarrassing.”
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