Bryan Coy must spend at least seven years in prison before he can ask for parole for shooting at Ada County Sheriff’s Office deputies last spring.
Fourth District Judge Richard Greenwood sentenced Coy on Wednesday to serve three 10-year prison terms – one for each felony count of assault or battery on (law enforcement) personnel. Two of those terms are consecutive. The third is running concurrent. Seven years of the first term are fixed.
Coy pleaded guilty to all three charges in June.
The shooting occurred March 28.
Three deputies with our ACTION (Anti-Crime Team In Our Neighborhoods) Unit went to a home in the 9900 block of West Granger just after noon that day to serve an arrest warrant on Robert Coy — Bryan’s father — for a felony charge of falsifying documents.
The 65-year-old Robert Coy resisted arrest. Deputies were in the process of handcuffing him on the front porch of his residence when Bryan Coy, who was inside the house, suddenly fired a 9mm pistol at the officers. Deputies returned fire, hitting Bryan Coy.
The deputies were not injured. Tests later revealed that Coy was only able to shoot one bullet because his gun jammed – but attempted to fire several more rounds directly at deputies before he was shot.
Coy later told investigators he did not consider the deputies to be law enforcement officers, saying they worked for a “corporation.” He also questioned if the arrest warrant for his father was lawful.
Bryan Coy was taken to a local hospital for treatment of injuries before he was arrested and booked into the Ada County Jail on April 2.
Robert Coy was taken to the Ada County Jail on March 28, where he was booked on the felony charge of offering a false or forged instrument. Robert Coy left jail after posting a $10,000 bond on March 31. He has a jury trial scheduled to begin Oct. 16.
The three deputies who fired at Bryan Coy are all members of the ACTION Team: Sgt. Pat Schneider, who has been with the ACSO for 17 years; Deputy Ryan Donelson who has been with the agency for 12 years; and Deputy Terry Lakey who has been with the ACSO for 11 years.
The three deputies fired a total of 16 rounds at Bryan Coy, who was hit by four of those rounds.
Blaine County Prosecutor Jim Thomas cleared all three deputies of any criminal charges earlier this month, determining their use of lethal force was appropriate in order to protect themselves and other officers.
“Their actions were clearly reasonably necessary in reaction to the imminent deadly threat when Bryan Coy pointed a semi-automatic handgun equipped with a homemade silencer on the end of the barrel at the deputies and discharged a 9mm round towards them, missing one of the deputies by inches,” Thomas said in a letter sent to Ada County Prosecutor Jan Bennetts earlier this month.
Thomas reviewed the Ada County Critical Incident Task Force (CITF) investigation into the shooting.
The multi-agency CITF does an independent investigation of all uses of lethal force by law enforcement in Ada County. Boise Police was the lead agency for this incident.