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Idaho Sheriff Charged With Pulling Gun On Neighbor

Crime and Justice News

Updated: Dec 28, 2021

When Chelsea Cox dropped off a card at the sheriff’s house in Blackfoot, Id.,, she did not expect to have a gun pointed at her forehead. She had driven some girls from her church last month. They taped a “thankful turkey” card to the door and sprinted back to the car. Bingham County Sheriff Craig Rowland saw them and thought that they were casing the neighborhood. He brought his service gun outside and waved at the car to stop driving. Cox, a family friend, stopped the car and opened the door. "We are just here to drop something off for Lisa,” she said, referring to the sheriff’s wife. Rowland yanked Cox out of the car by her hair. As Cox explained who she was, Rowland held the gun two inches from her forehead. “I will shoot you,” he said, using an expletive, "Get out of here,” he added, the New York Times reports. The next morning, Rowland told Chief Scott Gay of the Blackfoot Police Department that he “had really screwed up." In an affidavit filed this month, Rowland was charged with aggravated battery, aggravated assault and exhibition or use of a deadly weapon. Some local officials have called on Rowland to resign because of the confrontation and some comments he made afterward. In an interview with state investigators, he made disparaging comments about Native Americans, saying, "I’ve had drunk Indians drive down my cul-de-sac. I’ve had drunk Indians come to my door." Blackfoot, 200 miles east of Boise, is near the Fort Hall Reservation, where the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes live. The local chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police and Blackfoot Mayor Marc Carroll, both called on Rowland, who has held the position since 2012, to step down.


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