Nez Perce officer will not be re-charged

LEWISTON – A North Idaho prosecutor said he doesn’t plan to refile charges against a Nez Perce tribal police officer involved in a 2011 car chase that ended when the suspect from Lewiston was shot and killed.

Lewis County Prosecutor Zachary Pall said he was disappointed that a state judge last month dismissed a voluntary manslaughter with a deadly weapon charge against Officer Robert S. Wall, 31. Pall told the Lewiston Tribune this week that he has no plans to pursue the case again and respects the judge’s decision in the case.

Questions about the shooting and Wall’s actions resurfaced this week after the newspaper obtained and posted on its website police video of the 50-mile chase on Nov. 12 and fatal shooting of Jeffrey A. Flinn.

The video was taken from the dashboard of a tribal police cruiser on the night of the shooting. Near the end of the video, Flinn fired two shots from a shotgun out the window of a stolen pickup truck, then threw the rifle to the highway before exiting his vehicle with his hands behind his head. Nearly six seconds elapse before he is shot. The video contains no sound.

Wall was placed on paid administrative leave. On Monday, Daniel Taylor, the Nez Perce tribe’s interim police chief, said Wall is back to work at the department, but is on desk duty.

Last month, Magistrate Judge Stephen L. Calhoun dropped the charge during a preliminary hearing, concluding that a reasonable person would react in the same way in similar circumstances.

Another Nez Perce tribal police officer involved, Trevor M. Garrett, has pleaded not guilty in federal court to charges of making false statements to FBI officials investigating the case. His trial is scheduled for July 23 in federal court at Coeur d’Alene.