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'I didn't know you guys were cops': Idaho man files a tort claim after he's shot multiple times by federal law enforcement

Brooks Roberts and his family had been in ongoing disputes with law enforcement after they lost their home and began living on public forest land.

Morgan Romero, Tracy Bringhurst

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Published: 9:22 PM PDT September 10, 2023
Updated: 7:17 PM PDT September 12, 2023

Editor's notes: This story and following video contains violence, gunshots, blood and profanity. The story has been updated to clarify further what an officer's on-body video captures.

An undercover operation, involving several law enforcement officers at a trailhead in the Payette National Forest ended with a man being shot multiple times. On Friday, May 19, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), U.S. Forest Service (USFS), state and local officers were attempting to arrest Judy Roberts and her sons Timber and Brooks for unlawfully living on public lands. Officers shot Brooks, leaving him paralyzed. Now, his attorneys have filed a tort claim against the agencies.

"Brooks is an Idahoan who was with his family and one of the casualties of COVID in 2022," Brooks' attorney Ritchie Eppink said. "And by casualties, I mean, there was a job lost and then the family was evicted from their home in Emmett. And they ended up trying to survive in what they had left, which was their vehicles."

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