A Boise man who was shot by police officers on Sunday night after they said he rammed a stolen van into a patrol car several times has been charged with multiple felonies, including assault or battery upon certain personnel.
Ezra Smith, 25, was served with an arrest warrant on Tuesday afternoon, according to a Boise Police Department news release. He remains in stable condition at a hospital after the shooting.
The incident began at around 7 p.m. Sunday when officers were called to the 7000 block of Overland Road after reports of a reckless driver and possible driving-under-the-influence situation in a moving van, according to a previous news release from BPD. Police learned that the van was reported as stolen and tried to pull over the vehicle. That led to one pursuit that police discontinued because of its “high rate of speed, reckless driving behavior, and potential danger to surrounding vehicles.”
The van was later seen in the 10000 block of Riley Court, a residential street in West Boise. As police again tried to stop the driver, officers reported over radios that he rammed the van into a patrol car multiple times, which led to the shooting. It’s not known how many times officers fired their weapons or how many times Smith was shot.
Smith now faces four felonies: the assault or battery charge, fleeing or attempting to elude an officer, grand theft and malicious injury to property.
No police officers were injured in the incident, according to BPD. Two involved in the shooting, identified in the news release Tuesday as D. Skube and R. Denny, are on paid leave per department policy. Both have been police officers for eight years.
The shooting is being investigated by the Ada County Critical Incident Task Force, led by the Meridian Police Department.