A boisei man wants the city to
pay him after he says Boise police
officers falsely arrested him.
Ty Werenka was recording an
interaction between BPD officers
and another person before one of
the officers got physical with him.
Well, Renka says the situation
impacted him both physically and
emotionally for months afterwards,
which is why he wants to sue the city.
Abby Davis talked with Werenka and reviewed
police body camera footage of his arrest.
And have we learned this wasn't
werenka's first run in with police?
Varenka told me that he
records interactions between
police and people in public.
He says police comma,
he says police violence is common.
If a situation ever escalates to that level,
he says he likes giving his
footage to the person involved,
but in this case,
he was the one who got hurt.
Crazy our police. We feel like
making this intimidate people.
And on June 11th, Tyra Renka sat
in the back of a Boise police car.
Ty, you have the right to remain silent,
unknowing that eight months
later he'd still be fighting
what he calls a false arrest.
They've definitely changed the trajectory
of my life and how they've treated me.
KTVB obtained body camera
footage of varenka's arrest.
Werenka was trying to film Boise
Police Corporal Denny Carter and
Officer Avery Westendorf giving
what appears to be a traffic ticket
to a driver in a downtown Boise
parking garage the parking garage.
And an aspiring to leave,
the parking garage attendant told me,
hey, this is private property,
you're loitering and you can't be here.
In the middle of leaving,
the police start yelling over to me.
Basically being like, what are you doing?
Here's a side by side comparison,
a police body camera footage
and rank a cell phone.
You're hearing audio from a body camera.
You can see in the video police slapping
Marenka's phone from his hand and
then later pinning him against a wall.
I'm not interfering.
I was standing private property.
I'm leaving right now.
I'm trying to leave this private.
This gentleman's already
asked you to leave.
Once you came back around.
He asked me to leave the garage,
which I left.
No, you're here in the garage.
You can't have left the right.
He asked me to keep
driving and I kept driving.
OK. He didn't say.
He didn't say don't come back.
You want this gentleman believe?
Yes, please.
I'm trying to leave.
What do you think I'm doing?
You just stop me.
Let me make this clear.
I want to make it super clear.
So Sir, tell me what?
Tell me what I was interpreting.
Ohh. No.
I know this thing.
I'm not listening. I'm not listening.
Local attorney Casey Parson says
everyone has the 1st amendment right
to film the police, with an exception,
so long as they're not
obstructing the investigation. But
that's what police say Werenka did.
They arrested him for
resisting and obstructing.
In the body Cam footage,
Corporal Carter said Werenka
interfered with BPD's
investigation by blocking his view.
Put that up in my face
and tried to assault me.
Being filed in October 2022 against
Varenka states he did willfully resist,
obstruct or delay a public officer
by failing to leave the area
and moving his phone 6 inches
from Corporal Carter's face.
The charges against Varenka
were dismissed in late October.
In the motion to dismiss,
the city of Boise stated although
there was probable cause for
the initiation of this case,
there has been a change in the
complexion of the state's case and
the state can no longer prove the
matter beyond a reasonable doubt
for false arrest, false imprisonment,
assaulting me to the point
where I had to go to.
The primary Primary Health
afterwards the next morning to
get my injuries checked out.
In early December, he filed a notice of
a tort claim against the city of Boise,
the Boise Police Department and the Office
of the Boise City Attorney. What tort
claim is just when you are suing somebody
for causing some kind of injury to
you for like money damages typically.
KTVB reached out to BPD.
Its spokesperson sent a statement from
interim Chief Ron Weininger saying,
quote the video is concerning
and we have initiated an internal
investigation into the matter we take.
All allegations of misconduct seriously,
especially those relating
to the use of force,
but because of pending litigation,
he said, BPD can't comment any further.
The city of Boise said the
same thing in the tort claim.
Werenka asked for $500,000 in damages.
I think it's a small price to
pay for something that it's
never going to leave my mind,
something that I'm never going to forget.
The city can settle the tort claim
by paying damages or denying it.
If the city doesn't respond within 90 days,
that means it denied the tort claim,
in which case, we're Ranka could sue.
But Ranka's attorney also told me the
city hasn't responded to the notice yet.
All right. And when did they file this, Abby?
In December. Yes. Yeah.
The notice of the notice of the tour
claim was filed in December. OK.
So they still haven't responded.
All right.
We will continue to follow the story, Abby.
Appreciate it.