BOISE, Idaho — Ada County Sheriff Matt Clifford has issued a statement after the settling of a lawsuit brought by Mick Heikkola who was arrested when he was trying to turn in prescription medicine to the Kuna Police Department in January of 2023.
Heikkola was awarded $250,000 in damages and must train all deputies in constitutional law, specifically concerning what happened with Heikkola.
In the statement made by Clifford he said that, occasionally, mistakes are made but, on the whole, most interactions go well.
"Earlier this week, we settled a lawsuit with Mr. Heikkola, stemming from an incident in January 2023. It wasn't our best day. It is the expectation that Ada County deputies perform to the best of their abilities every day --- while keeping people's constitutional rights in the forefront of their minds, while also keeping our community safe," Clifford said.
As previously reported, Heikkola, a longtime Kuna resident and Treasure Valley businessman, was arrested on Jan. 17, 2023, after Ada County Sheriff’s Office deputies “grabbed” him and “pinned his arms behind his back before slamming him into metal railings in front of the station,” the lawsuit states. Heikkola, who was at the police station to drop off an expired prescription his pharmacy accidentally filled, looked at two police SUVs that were parked next to him as he walked into the police station.
Clifford also said that they are not trampling on people's constitutional rights.
"The reality is, we have hundreds of contacts every day with people of all different backgrounds, religions, ethnicities and socioeconomic standings. While the vast majority of those interactions go well, occasionally we fumble and miss the mark," Clifford said.
He added that they will include training specific to this case.
"Part of the settlement was to include additional constitutional policing training; fortunately, we had already implemented this training prior to the settlement. We will now also include a scenario similar to Mr. Heikkola's in our scenario-based training. We are one of few law enforcement agencies across the country with routine built-in training time. Every patrol deputy receives 9.5 training hours per month. These blocks of training include topics such as firearms training, scenario-based training, legal updates, EVOC, de-escalation techniques, arrest and control techniques, CPR and first aid, and more," he said.
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