Spokesman: Yakima County sheriff’s sergeant who hit boy with vehicle back on duty

A Yakima County sheriff’s sergeant who hit a 13-year-old boy in a Harrah-area field with his vehicle has returned to duty.

Sgt. Nate Boyer, an 11-year-veteran, was back at work on Monday night while an investigation continues, sheriff’s office spokesman Casey Schilperoort said.

Boyer had been on paid administrative leave, as required by policy, since the July 7 incident in the 3900 block of Barkes Road.

He was one of several deputies and Yakama Nation Tribal Police officers looking for suspects in a home invasion robbery that happened in the 11600 block of Branch Road. Several suspects had taken cash from the residents, and were believed to be at the Barkes Road house, authorities said.

Boyer had seen a man running near his Ford Expedition around 5 a.m., and drove into the field to get to the back of the house to head off any fleeing suspects, sheriff’s officials said.

A tribal officer spotted the boy that Boyer’s vehicle hit, in a depression in the ground surrounded by tall weeds.

The boy, who has only been identified as an enrolled Yakama Nation member, remains in serious condition at Harborview Medical Center, Schilperoort said. Detectives are still determining why the boy was in the field at that time, he said.

Yakima Valley Special Investigations Unit is investigating how the boy was hit, while the sheriff’s office investigates the home invasion.