Suspect Freed After Mix-Up No Charges Filed After Shootout With Deputy
A man who allegedly shot and wounded a Bonner County deputy was set free Monday because prosecutors didn’t know he was in custody and never filed charges against him.
Reyham Higgins, 21, spent the last nine days under armed guard and shackled to a hospital bed while recovering from a gunshot wound to his hip.
The guard was dismissed and restraint removed Monday. Higgins was told he could leave when doctors released him because he hadn’t been charged with a crime.
“He had been there too long without arrangements being made for a court appearance or charges being filed,” said Bonner County Sheriff Chip Roos. “It made us sick to have to do it but our office and the prosecutor are getting things straightened out, and he will be charged.”
Prosecutor Tevis Hull said he did not receive any reports from authorities about the Nov. 12 shooting of a deputy and Higgins, so he couldn’t file charges.
“Our office wasn’t notified until yesterday (Monday) that Higgins was in custody,” Hull said. “That was the first notice we received and since we had not filed any charges at that time, he was released.”
Hull declined further comment, saying the shooting was still under investigation.
Roos said Hull’s office was aware that Higgins was arrested. The prosecutor’s office sent an investigator to the scene the night of the shooting.
The prosecutor’s office also filed an aggravated battery charge against Higgins’ brother, Ian, 23, and charged his father, Steven T. Higgins, with obstructing justice.
All three men were arrested Nov. 12 after a gunbattle erupted with deputies near Samuels, about 14 miles north of Sandpoint.
Higgins, his brother and father were trying to evict a tenant who was renting a home from them. The men tossed the woman’s clothes and other belongings in a pile outside the home and set them on fire, authorities said.
When deputies went to the house, Higgins and his brother fired at the officers. Reyham Higgins reportedly shot deputy John Givens, 36, in the arm. The bullet went through his skin, then struck the officer’s bullet proof vest, authorities said.
Givens returned fire with a shotgun and hit Higgins in the hip.
A paperwork snafu was part of the reason no charges were filed against Reyham Higgins, Roos said.
The shooting investigation was turned over to the state Criminal Bureau of Investigation. Since a deputy was involved in the gunfight, the sheriff’s department couldn’t conduct the investigation itself.
“The confusion was because we are the victims and witnesses in this case and the reports were supposed to come from the state. The prosecutor was waiting for reports from us,” the sheriff said.
In the meantime, some of the Higgins family have lodged complaints with the sheriff’s department and prosecutor’s office for keeping Reyham Higgins shackled to his bed without ever being formally charged.
The family has claimed it’s a civil rights violation and contacted several attorneys about suing the county.
The county has been paying the tab for Higgins’ hospital stay. Higgins claimed he was indigent and, because the county admitted him to the hospital, it is responsible for the nine-day bill.
Higgins was still in the hospital Tuesday.
, DataTimes