AMMON — Deputies arrested an Ammon man after he allegedly slashed a teenager’s leg with a utility knife.
The Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office arrived at the 1000 block of South Curlew Drive around 12:30 a.m. Tuesday after 46-year-old Devin W. Miner said three people were armed and breaking into his home. According to a Sheriff’s Office news release, dispatch could hear Miner saying, “Don’t move or I will cut you,” and before getting more information, the man hung up the phone.
As deputies drove to the scene, another person called dispatch saying they could hear screaming and saw people running towards Walmart and CAL Ranch off of Hitt Road.
In the street, deputies found a 15-year-old boy with a severe knife wound to a leg. To stop the bleeding, deputies used a tourniquet and first aid until the Idaho Falls Fire Department could take the boy to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in critical condition. Court records show the teen is likely to lose the use of his leg because of the injury.
Idaho Falls Police officers and deputies then set up a perimeter and found two teen boys, 16 and 17 years old and a 14-year-old girl, in the area. All three teens were runaways and associated with a stolen vehicle from Madison County found near Walmart.
During their investigation, deputies learned the teens went into Miner’s backyard, claiming they ran from someone who threatened them at Walmart. While in the backyard, Miner confronted the teens saying he would call the police.
When the teens began running, Miner started yelling at them to stop. The teen with the leg injury told police that Miner used a knife to cut the back of his leg while he was trying to climb a fence and run. Miner’s first version of events differed from the teens. He initially told police he thought the teens were trying to break into his garage and the teen got hurt on the fence.
Eventually, Miner admitted to cutting the teen with a knife. Miner said his anxiety was high and he felt the people in his backyard were “tweakers.”
“Miner told me that this situation could have been handled better and that he should not have gone into his backyard to confront (the teens),” a deputy writes in a report. “Upon learning that he had likely caused an irreparable, life-altering injury to a juvenile, Miner became extremely upset and told us ‘I’m sorry.'”
The Sheriff’s Office reports they could not find any evidence the teens were armed or had tried to get into Miner’s home.
Deputies arrested Miner for felony aggravated battery and booked him into the Bonneville County Jail.
Deputies are still looking at potential charges for the four teens involved and the ties to the stolen vehicle. The injured boy remains at EIRMC, receiving treatment for his injury.
Although Miner is accused of a crime, it does not necessarily mean he committed it. Everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
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