Dramatic High Speed Chase and Shootout in Idaho Falls
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Last night our normally peaceful Idaho Falls was the scene of a crazy high speed vehicle chase, shootout, foot chase, and hostage situation. Most of us locals watched these events play out nearly live on our televisions last night. All three local news stations tried to get the best information, and this morning it seems the police have not yet filled in many details.
Let’s see what we know so far. Nobody has definite word yet on when or where this started, but it appears to have started near 17th street on the Ammon end (did anyone see the beginning?). A large, black Honda CRV Land Rover (SUV) was being chased by westward several Idaho Falls Police Department vehicles down 17th street. The SUV was captured on KIDK video as it passed their 17th street location, and turning left into the Century 21 property to avoid a vehicle trap. Either the SUV or a police vehicle slammed the snow bank and caused a huge amount of snow to fly in the air.
The SUV then turned back heading eastward on 17th street. At some point the SUV turned around again to head westward (did anyone see this?), and also maneuvered down to Sunnyside Road. The speeds were reported up to 90 miles per hour during this chase. The SUV drove over a lawn and smashed through a cinder block wall (ouch!) near the intersection of Sunnyside and South Boulevard (near the Stonebrook neighborhood).
Apparently there were three fugitives and they all fled on foot after the crash. Two are reported to try jumping a fence, but the female could not get over. She approached a home and asked to use their phone, saying her boyfriend was after her with a gun. The homeowners would not let her in but gave her their phone (a cordless?) One of those neat reverse-911 calls speed-dialed that neighborhood to warn residents about the situation, so we have to wonder if those homeowners had already been alerted of the situation? The female was apparently quickly arrested by IFPD.
The guy who made it over the fence broke into a home, took some truck keys, and stole that homeowner’s big white truck and towing a trailer. This fugitive apparently did not get far, however, with some reports that he ran over a pedestrian, and other reports that he crashed into the back of the police car holding his female accomplice. Details on this part are still sketchy, but it appears the police shot the male suspect and his body was covered but left in plain view near the white truck.
The news media were reporting “very reliable sources” that the situation was over, everything was safe again. Then Bonneville County Sheriff’s Officer Doug Metcalf held a quick news briefing and said no, they still had a third suspect at large in the area, and he was to be considered armed and dangerous. The media then had to alert everyone to lock their doors and stay inside.
Apparently that third suspect broke into a home two blocks from this scene and took a woman hostage. The IFPD SWAT Team was called out and apparently arrested this third person without much reported incident. BCSO’s Doug Metcalf informed the on-scene media shortly thereafter that the situation was finally over.
Wow! This is not something we see everyday in Idaho Falls!
Did you see any of this action last night? What did you see and where did you see it?
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Comments
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0 Oh yeah!!!! You’re SURE the shooting (to kill at that) was justified. Whatever! Lets wait for the full investigation to be complete before making assumptions here.
Like 2486 said in the chatbox….I also don’t feel this story was worth its own thread. Don’t we have a “daily news thread”?
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0 0 This is a bigger story than normal. That Daily News discussion is for smaller items, and it mentioned big stories may/will still get their own dedicated article.
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0 0 Wheres the coverage in the PR today? Guess they didn’t think it was that big a deal huh?
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0 0 One other thing, a Honda CRV is hardly a “large SUV”. Their actually quite small and those things barely go 90 mph as it is. What I don’t understand is how they could have evaded the police for so long. Why didn’t the sheriffs office pull a pit maneuver on them? That’s what their trained to do. And they certainly should have been able to outrun that small suv without any problems. Seems our law enforcement dropped the ball on this one! I think they definately need more training if something as insignifigant as a “chase” took them by such surprise.
IMO
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0 0 I can’t really speak for the Post Register but I am pretty sure they only had a small write-up on the back page of the A section because at the time they went to press that was the only information available. Even by this morning after the papers were delivered there was not much more information being released. I think you can count on them to have a more complete report in Friday’s paper.
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0 0 And the armchair policing begins. . .
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0 0 Good catch on the CRV. It’s one of the smaller SUV’s made.
As far as the cops pulling a pit maneuver, keep in mind that this was on 17th street, the busiest street in town and there were a lot of innocent drivers still on the street during all this. It’s simply amazing to me that the only ones who were injured (as far as has been reported) were the suspects. No by-standers or officers were hurt.
The shooting was justified when the suspect slammed a vehicle into the patrol car. That is assault with intent to cause bodily injury or death. At that point a vehicle is considered a deadly weapon and officers can shoot a suspect in a vehicle that tries to run them down.
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0 0 Let’s see…
The SWAT Team part I read on one of the local news stories.
I think the police did try some maneuvers to stop the SUV. At least one was (almost) captured on KIDK 3 video, you see the SUV turning around through that Century 21 parking lot, and the reporter said the SUV did that to avoid the cop trap that was just out of camera range.
Most of the news media did not have much information this morning, the PR was not alone. I think after the police got control of all three suspects they went into investigation mode, and have not shared much information with any media. Hopefully the IFPD/BCSO will release more information today. But that is not the local media’s fault.
The SUV looked fairly big on the KIDK video, maybe it was not a CRV?
I would wait to learn more details before we start saying what the cops should and should not have done.
For instance, we don’t know who the fugitives were, why they were running so hard, we don’t know what touched off the chase (a traffic stop or a warrant serving), and we don’t know a lot of the chase details.
I mostly wanted to put this up so local folks who were on 17th street or lived in these neighborhoods can share what little they witnessed, and together we can piece it together.
Did you see any of this happen last night? What did you see?
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0 0 I’m with you Brian. Leave the cops alone to do their jobs. It was a tough situation and I’d like to see anyone try to do that job before they complained too loud. It does take a certain personality to be a good cop and that personality isn’t always going to win congeniality awards. They are always going to win the ‘I want them on my side in a fight’ award, though!
That’s not to say that all cops are good OR that all cops are bad. Just like any other group on the planet, there are good and bad. Why don’t we wait and see before we crucify them?
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0 0 Good point. Plus if you plan to get in a shoot out with cops, more than likely the cops are going to shoot to kill, instead of wound. I wonder why their bringing in a 3rd department to investigate this incident? Is this standard operating procedure? If so, I’ve never heard of that.
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0 0 It is SOP whenever an officer is involved in a shooting. The incident is investigated by an independant body from the dept. involved in the shooting.
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0 0 According to KIDK:
“The officers involved in the shooting will be placed on administrative leave until the investigation is complete. The investigation that’s expected to last at least a full week.”
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0 0 which is also standard procedure.
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0 0 Clarification on the SUV: It was a Land Rover. They are bigger than a CRV, considered a mid-size like an Explorer.
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0 0 Just listened to the 15-20 minute press conference by the county. Suspects were identified, timeframe was clarified, and only one officer was involved in the shooting.
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0 0 There has been some discussion in the chat box today regarding the professionalism, or lack thereof, of local newscasts regarding not only this case, but in general. I agree with many points made as to the small town feel to local newscasts. Spelling and misproununcation errors seem especially common. But we are IN a small town and our news coverage is likely comparable to that in same sized cities. But I must offer kudos to one reporter who was reporting - off the cuff as the scene was unfolding on 17th Street. I believe his name was Rick Montanez and he couldn’t have been more articulate or professional. I don’t remember seeing his work before, as I seldom watch KIDK, but he was very impressive, which means he will probably be picked up by a bigger station soon. Lesson: To KPVI, KIDK, KIFI. Pay the good ones enough to keep them! (BTW, I am not related, nor have ever met this young man.)
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0 0 There is a lot of missinformation about the events of last night. I understand why we cant be told every little detail but not havng the information sure makes the rummor mill run at high speed.
Here are a couple of facts that I know…
BCSO had rammed the SUV like 4 times… all unsuccessfull… I heard on the scanner after it was over that it was a landrover.
Several attempts were made to use spike strips… Bad guy would turn off just before the street they were placed… hmmm kinda like he had scanner and knew what the police were doing.
SWAT did not capture the last bad guy, It was 2 BCSO and 1 IFPD that were near the house. The husband came home to find the guy holding his wife hostage, he ran out and yelled to the officers. They ran in and captured bad guy.
The shooting is where the radio traffic realy got hard to follow so im not going to comment there.
This is the information I gathered from listening to the scanner myself
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0 0 there you go
Bonneville County Sheriff Paul Wilde just finished his press conference. Despite what he could not say because of ongoing investigations, he was very informative.
It started when a BCSO pulled over the Land Rover, recognized the driver from another county’s BOLO (be on the lookout for), and the rover took off while deputy was calling for backup.
Multiple crash scenes later and in the Sunnyside neighborhood, they crashed into a snowbank (no brick wall mentioned). All three passengers ran and female was caught first.
Original Rover driver stole the white pickup and rammed into BCSO vehicle containing his accomplice, with enough force to throw her from the vehicle!
Several officers approached the truck, one BCSO is assumed to be the one that killed the suspect though it sounds like multiple officers were firing weapons.
The third suspect did break into a home and took a woman hostage, but cops quickly invaded and swarmed him.
The only people hurt were the original rover driver (dead) and his female accomplice (from when the truck hit the car).
Amazingly nobody else appears to have been injured. As Wilde said, “it could have been a lot worse”. Three BCSO and three IFPD are on administrative leave.
The main idea is “MULTIPLE”. There were multiple crime scenes from the multiple crashes, multiple agencies responding, multiple suspects who ran to multiple locations and committed multiple more crimes, and multiple outside agencies have been called in to independently investigate this incident and ensure our folks did their job correctly.
Which of course means it will take multiple times longer until we get the full story, possibly as long as three weeks.
Crazy!
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0 0 LOL “Which of course means it will take multiple times longer until we get the full story, possibly as long as three weeks.”
With all the agencies and investigators involved, multiple, multiple times longer… three months LOL
Good Job BCSO and IFPD!!! They kept cool, did the best they could given the situation!!!
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0 0 This is what was just released by the Post Register:
Bonneville County Sheriff’s officials this afternoon identified the two men and a woman who led police on a high-speed chase Wednesday night, resulting in a police shooting and hostage situation in a south Idaho Falls’ neighborhood. Rayce J. Rindfleisch, 31, was shot dead by police. After he led police on a high-speed chase that ended when he crashed into a snow bank in Victorian Village, he fled on foot, entered a home, stole a truck and ran it into a sheriff’s vehicle. He was shot to death by a Bonneville County sheriff’s deputy. Only one deputy fired shots. Three Bonneville County officers have been placed on administrative leave. The Tri-County Sheriff’s Association is investigating the police shooting. The woman’s name is Ashlee Tinno, 29. She was quickly apprehended after the first car hit the snow bank. She was in the sheriff’s vehicle rammed by Rindfleisch. She was thrown from the car and was taken to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center. She was released from the hospital and is now in jail on a misdemeanor warrant. The other man, Darwin W. Crosland, 40, also fled the scene. He was the last one apprehended. He has been charged with second-degree kidnapping for holding a woman against her will. He also faces other charges.
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0 0 Although no none should lose their child in such a terrible way, I am going to share with readers a little info on the dead suspect, Rayce. I am not posting under my usual name because I didn’t realize I had a past connection with him. I was just as stunned as everyone listening to what unfolded last night. All I can say is good job to the police.
My ex-husband and I started out OK, but then he decided the party life was more fun. So, while I worked, he partied with friends, started using meth and coke, and joined that whole underworld. Needless to say when I found out I divorced my husband and cut all ties with him once I saw thing were not going to change.
My ex was friends with Rayce, they did meth together in Blackfoot/Firth where he lived, and then Rayce hired my ex to strong-arm people who wouldn’t pay him back or settle up money on the drugs he had sold them. It was a very bad and violent few years for that group. Sadly his mother was/is a respected real estate agent last I heard.
Sorry everyone, but this guy was no good and a threat to society. He’s off the streets now and can’t deal to our kids and families anymore!
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0 0 What about the whold crashing through the wall thing? They even showed a wall that was demolished? Did the SUV NOT crash through the wall?
yeah…..it’s going to be awhile before ALL the facts come out on this one.
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0 0 It looked like a vinyl fence to me when I watched the news last night. I could do some rubber necking tonight on the way home……..
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0 0 Some clarifications to some of the armchair QB’s here. I’m not at liberty to discuss discuss a lot of the other details fully.
Officer tried to use spike trips many times but Rayce always at the last minute evaded them as if he knew they were there. I’d imagine that someone earlier speculated correctly as to why.
Pit maneuvers are a California thing. Officers here are not trained in them. In addition a pit maneuver is only safe on stretches of roadway where the car being pitted won’t careen into other traffic. That clearly is not 17th street.
Comments were made about the SUV outrunning police cars. Many mistakenly think police cars are fast. Thats only true for police cars that work the state highways. Cars that work in town are usually no different than the same make / model that a citizen can buy and as such are no faster than any other car on the street. And it doesn’t sound like the SUV outran them in the first place or Rayce would have gotten away.
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0 0 Nobody said the SUV “outran” them, but since you act like you have an inside perspective on the police force and it’s vehicles, why wouldn’t the BSO be trained in pit maneuvers? Most county officers I’ve known around the country are and have been trained in pit maneuvers, so it’s not just a “California thing” as you put it. Maybe the city cops aren’t but perhaps that’s something they should be trained on. It’s really not that difficult to perform.
Perhaps one of them can enlighten us? And 17th street is certainly large enough to pull one off as long as their wasn’t much traffic, but I agree, there usually is traffic on 17th until at least midnight during the week. I’m sure the officers did the best they could with what they had.
But since you have the “inside scoop”….did the perp have a scanner with him or not, or can you not share that information with us? Also, how much training does a city cop get on average for driving and chase scenarios? Do they take refresher courses throughout the year?
If not, I think it’d be something for them to look into.
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0 0 Actually CR67 in post #5 asked why the SUV was able to evade police for so long and why the police were not able to outrun it.
I say California thing because 9 out of 10 police pursuits you see on TV are from there because of the presence of media helicopters to film it.
And again, pit maneuvers are only used on stretches of road where no one will be put in danger by it. That means state highways / freeways. Because after being pitted the car will often careen off the road. How some of you would be howling for a policeman’s head if they had done a pit maneuver and a pedestrian had been hit, if an oncoming car had been hit, or the car had gone off road and into someone’s living room. Officers here don’t use pit maneuvers for this very reason and aren’t trained in it so they won’t be tempted. The state police might use them since freeways are the ideal place for such a maneuver since unless its bumper to bumper traffic (and they wouldn’t do it if it was) there isn’t going to be any risk to innocent life if the car goes offroad. Spike strips are much more effective. And as anyone listening to a scanner last night can tell you, Rayce would change course every time it was broadcast on a scanner that spikes were ready (pursuing officers have to know so they can evade the spikes). Its obvious by implication that he had a scanner.
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0 0 That makes sense….thanks!
Although I too think the police should have been able to outrun this guy. At least enough to get in front of him.
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0 0 I don’t know if this Land Rover had a V8, but it’s possible. The best police could do was maybe catch him, let alone get in front. Then (with the speeding up and slowing down to weave in and out of traffic and around corners), trying to out accelerate another moving vehicle ain’t gonna happen with the cars and SUV’s that officers use for routine patrol. They would have needed a fully horsed up Mustang or something equivalent to do that.
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0 0 There seems to be a lot of comments about how the police should have been able to catch the Land Rover with their vehicles. I don’t know if any one here has been down to the IFPD parking lot, but have you seen their cars? What a complete joke it is. I’ve seen the regulars: Chevy Impala and Ford Crown Victoria. By the body styles of these two they appear to be somewhat from the year 2000. The part that I found quite commical was the Ford Taurus’s and the Chevy Lumina’s. You can even see they have Ford Crown Victoria’s from the mid 90’s (DINOSAURS). If this is what IFPD has to offer for speed good luck catching most criminals. I know an Idaho State Trooper who said a patrol vehicle that is over 100,000 miles is old for a cop car because of how they are constantly needed to be driven. From what I’ve heard most of the cars owned by the IFPD fall into this category. I don’t know who’s responsible for old equipment. Anyone else feel like shedding some light in this subject?
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0 0 First, KUDOS to all the law enforcement officers involved! I’m glad you were all there and willing to do your duty.
Secondly, could public review of the police motor pool help the IFPD?
Third, it sounds like IFPD/BCSO worked very well together last night. Being a total outsider to both departments, I think that speaks well for both law enforcement agencies and the changes in leadership. But, I may be wrong.
I would be interested to know what those who have connections/relatives etc. at either or both departments think about the unity of effort last night? Would that have happened 1-2 years ago?
Have we seen morale and ability to focus on the jobs they were hired to do improve at IFPD in particular?
Personally, I’ve always thought IFz.Com was partially responsible for helping collect views of those who couldn’t go on the record officially about the IFPD. Yet, I believe those opinions needed to be heard.
Be it the Mayor’s former work in Law Enforcement, or the union, or a combination of IFz.Com, Mayor Fuhrman, the Union and other factors, it appears to me IFPD officers are focusing more on their jobs not the OBSTACLES to their jobs.
Finally, does anyone think this particular incident will influence the need for a new PD Center? Not that the crimes were committed at IFPD.
What I’m saying is if officers are having to handle this many investigations essentially at the same time, where do they interview everyone and do follow up interviews? Probably some are at their homes, but I think this speaks to the need for a larger IFPD headquarters and positively for a need for a new and much large crime lab.
Hopefully, someday 1-2 substations somewhere around the mall or an empty building on the west side will be built. Many cities of comparable size to Idaho Falls have small PD substations in an enclosed or strip mall. Some even take small vacated areas in grocery stores.
Would it have helped last night to have more officers based out of a substation near the mall so they could have responded as well? Or, is there an X number at which point too many officers make the job more difficult to perform? given more officers immediately in the area?
Again, great job local law enforcement. Hold your heads high and the same for your families.
As for the victim’s family, it’s hard to know the family dynamics and how the family has been coping with this criminal for years. Nonetheless, I honestly can’t imagine what it feels like to be them tonight. Probably too many emotions to process so fast.
Hopefully, there are some positive memories for the survivers (be they relatives, friends or other) as most people have at least one good quality.
Mostly, I hope people will respect the privacy of the family. They have a lot to heal from and THEY did not commit the crimes. If anyone knows family members, it would be useful info to let us know how they are doing and what they do and don’t need (like lots of phone calls or press interviews etc.).
Tonight I will add the survivors in my prayers, as they have probably suffered many years with the criminal record of the deceased. I will also remember to thank God literally, for the men and women who show up to protect us when it counts.
O4N
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0 0 As someone who would know I can say positively that there would have been the exact same amount of cooperation between the patrol level officers on the IFPD and BCSO two years ago as there is now. The animosity between the two entities only existed at the administrative level and is now gone with the change in leadership at both places. The rank and file guys have always gotten along and cooperated well.
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0 0 That’s cool to hear.
Ironically enough, Local News 8 reported on the 10:30-11pm “nightline” that Spokane police pulled a pit maneuver during a car chase and sent the car crashing through a coffee shop. I kid you not, how ironic ehh?
Our cops did a great job.
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0 0 I did not watch the footage live. I think in hindsight the situation seems to have been handled as well as could have been done in our sleepy little town.
Kudos to our law enforcement staff, it just sounds like it could have been much worse all around and they minimized the danger where they could. It feels like we got exactly what we wanted/needed from our professionals in a very horrible situation. “Serve and protect” they did, in spades.
And kudos to our commenters! A few tried to interject their personal anger at another post’s commenters (asking that for routine investigations without provocation, officers should not be disrespectful, rude and belittling to the suspect) into this situation, but very few of the subsequent commenters bit into that rotten apple.
Well done all around.
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0 0 I am feeling puzzled about the local media’s coverage of Mr. Reindfleisch. Several stations were doing a back story on his life and times in high school. They showed pictures of him wrestling and how he was a good kid. There seemed to be alot of disbelief….you know, the typical shock that a commenter makes about how they just can’t believe this all happened.
In a way, I took it as the media sort of glorifying this guys life. It is disappointing that he lost his life. However, the media seemed to miss the point that this guy put alot of peoples lives in danger that night and even struck Ms. Tinno. He could have easily killed many folks that night. It is kind of like the shooters at Trolley Square, Virginia Tech, etc…the media comes and does a back story on these criminals….and in the process of reporting their story, i.e. humanizing them,they get more press than they ever deserved as result of their criminal and stupid actions. The media, like the rest of us, tries to find some reason(s) why they decided to do what they did and in doing so, I wonder if we don’t glamorize their lives so much that it leads the next person to step in and take over where they left off?……….
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0 0 The backstories would be better if the media was more diligent in saying this is your life after meth.
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0 0 Ah, THERE would be a real ‘ad’ that local kids could relate to, in a hurry! This is what he started out as, this is what he ended up as, and look at the families (including his own) who are hurting now.
Local news media, where are your investigative journalists on this one? Perfect case to take from start to finish if there ever was one. Senseless death, high drama, and meth was very probably a key player.
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0 0 I completely agree with your comment#35 Mike. I believe this is why this type of thing continues to happen across the country. Those individuals at the “end of their rope” figure they have nothing to loose and so they go out in a blaze of glory…..or rather a blaze of terror. Nobody gave them the time of day while they were alive. So they shoot up a school or committ a heinous crime and they’ll be remembered forever in the history books. I think it’s inappropriate reporting on the part of the media. It’s one thing to inform the public of a tragedy, and it’s something else to “glamorize” this persons life after he’s caused so much death and destruction. I honestly believe this is why incidents like this continue to happen and happen more frequently. The general public doesn’t need to know WHO the shooter is or what he looks like. Only where it happened and how many people were affected. We need to stop giving these psychos a platform for their pathetic & insecure lives. (sorry….hope I
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0 0 I think people need to realize that very good people can be involved in very bad things. Rayce was my friend in high school. He was an amazing person then and underneath all the addiction, he was still that same guy 12 years later. It’s astonishing how quick people are to justify someone losing their life because they took the wrong path.
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0 0 Try as you might to convince us he was great guy, and a warm cuddly fellow. The facts are he was a mean nasty person who’s own actions led to his death. Pure and simple, no way to sugar coat it. The guy had a gun and was a threat to everyone around him. In my opionion the police would be justified in riddling him with every bullit they carried.
There is no one else to blame, not his mother, not his girlfriend, not his high school wrestling coach. I feel for his family, but from what I read it was only a matter of time before he got killed or he killed someone. Better him.
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0 0 While I believe good people CAN go bad, that still doesn’t excuse their actions. It’s nobodys fault but his own that he let himself go from good guy to bad. He still knew right from wrong and decided to take the wrong path. The night this all went down he put others lives in danger and the officers did what was necessary to protect themselves as well as the community. While I don’t agree with guestInIf’s statement that the cops should have riddled him with ever bullet they had, I do believe they had no choice and did what was necessary.
Unfortunately, people like Racye don’t realize how much they hurt their family and friends when the go off the deep end like this. It’s the parents and the family members that end up dealing with the hurt and ridicule that will likely follow his family for many years to come.
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0 0 Anon said: He was an amazing person then and underneath all the addiction, he was still that same guy 12 years later.
Rayce ceased to be that amazing person when the devil called meth took him over. I’ll argue with you until the cows come home about that. This is why meth is such a dangerous drug. I changes people for life. His addiction ruled who he became and how he acted.
As cold and heartless as it may sound, Rayce is better off now than when he was alive. If the local new stations don’t capitalize on this perfect example of the effects of meth and it’s dangers, shame on them. 
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0 0 I am absolutely appalled at the article glamorizing Rayce the Idaho State Journal had in yesterday’s paper. They used the word “alleged” so much I had to laugh out loud. How many other people in the daily obituaries get a huge extra write up about their funeral and how wonderful of a person they were? Next time anyone in any of our families dies, let’s demand the Journal do a piece on it. Disgusting, 2 thumbs down to the Pocatello “Urinal”.
Next they’ll be writing articles about how the college campus shooters were “really kind and gentle guys” too.
He didn’t care what he did was illegal and just plain wrong, and the number of people he sold too and hurt both physically and mentally does not warrant this type of a write up. He loved the power he thought he had over everyone around him. He believed he was the king. I can’t believe it. No disrespect to the family, but they know (I think) as well as everyone else around Blackfoot what a danger this guy was.
Anon #39, I guess if you were such a good friend, you could have somehow tried to help? Oh yeah, like the article says, he didn’t have goals or the direction he was supposed to be given. Gee, neither do thousands of other men but they don’t turn into drug dealers! Glamorizing a high school has-been wrestling career from 14 years ago is sickening compared to the real life he led for 13 years after graduation. I don’t agree anyone is the same sweet person underneath it all, I think that kind of life changes you inside and out. Maybe arms dealers are great guys too…..
Idaho State Urinal article:
Friends, family recall Rindfleisch
BY JIMMY HANCOCK jhancock@journalnet.com
BLACKFOOT — Rayce J. Rindfleisch, surrounded by many friends and family who say they knew him as a kind, gentle man, will be laid to rest today.
Rindfleisch, 31, died on Feb. 27 after allegedly leading police on a high-speed chase through the streets of Idaho Falls for about an hour. The night culminated after Rindfleisch and his two passengers fled the vehicle they were in.
Rindfleisch allegedly stole a pickup from a nearby home, driving toward officers as he tried to make his escape. One officer shot at Rindfleisch four or five times and the vehicle he was driving hit a police cruiser. Rindfleisch was pronounced dead at the scene.
On Monday, about 150 friends and family attended a memorial service at Hawker Funeral Home in Blackfoot, the city where Rindfleisch grew up. Among those in attendance was Andy Moysh, a lifetime friend of Rindfleisch’s who is also speaking at his funeral today.
“We knew each other since we were in diapers,” Moysh said. “We grew up together.”
Rindfleisch was a star athlete at Blackfoot High School who played football and wrestled. He was the state wrestling champion in 1993 for the 171-pound division. Moysh said Rindfleisch was also voted must likely to succeed when he graduated in 1994.
“He had been a successful high school athlete and aced his ACTs,” Moysh said. “He was told the sky was the limit.”
Moysh would not discuss some of the events, or causes, that led Rindfleisch’s life into a less production direction. When Rindfleisch was initially pulled over on Feb. 27 by a deputy from the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office, that officer recognized him as a man wanted in Bingham County.
Rindfleisch was wanted on a felony warrant charging him with possession of a controlled substance, eluding an officer and driving under the influence. The notification from Bingham County warned that Rindfleisch should be considered armed and dangerous.
That’s not the man Moysh knew.
“Some things happened in his life that he didn’t get the direction he needed,” said Moysh, who currently works for the Utah Department of Corrections. “Without goals, (Rindfleisch) got sidetracked. When problems began, the support and direction he got just weren’t sufficient.”
As people lined up to pay their respects to Rindfleisch and his family, three monitors throughout the room showed photos of him at various stages of his life. They portrayed a middle-class upbringing.
“To Honor and Celebrate the Life of Rayce J. Rindfleisch,” were the words that started the presentation.
(caption under photo)
JOE KLINE/IDAHO STATE JOURNAL
Randy Rindfleisch hugs a woman attending the memorial service for his son, Rayce, at Hawker Funeral Home in Blackfoot on Monday evening.
This is INSANE!
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0 0 I read that one also, and felt the same way. The front cover had a teaser blurb that was just as bad.
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0 0 Yep. Today’s Idaho State Journal in “letters to the editor” printed a “sad heartfelt” letter from one of Rayce’s friends about what a misunderstood poor soul he was, and how wonderful and caring and a big heart he had. Sure, where was that big caring heart and intelligence as he raced around Idaho Falls putting so many lives at risk?
I guess I’m wondering if the Journal would like to do a front page story now about the people Rayce put in danger by his high speed chase, including the poor family whose home he broke into, not to mention the police officers who put their life on the line to stop him and his friends. Do you think they’ll take the time to interview all of them? Likely not.
Perhaps a story focusing on his drug dealing, the families and marriages he help ruin and didn’t care one ounce about, the joke law enforcement was to him, etc. I still can’t believe the newspaper down south is making him out to be such a sweet hero gone bad. A lot of people, if they dared talk even now, would hotly disagree. There are a lot of other citizens out there who are truly good people who don’t get the positive media attention they are giving him.
At least the Post Register wasn’t afraid to print the facts and get to the story, without all this fluff I’m reading elsewhere.
Other posters, why are some people excused and made to be poor souls who “had a little problem”, and others not?
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0 0 Maybe they would print the more accurate depictions if it was their town that witnessed the high speed chase, if it was their town that got told on live TV that there was still an armed and dangerous fugitive on the loose, if it was someone in their town that was taken hostage.
Idaho State “Urinal”, I liked that comment.
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0 0 The most poignant fact about all of Rayce’s actions that night was that he had choices. At any time he could have stopped and given up. The only major thing that would have happened to him that night was he would have been imprisoned for the choices he had just made, and had previously made(Warrants). I do find it pathetic that the Idaho State “Urinal” would glorify who Rayce was, as if he was that same person that night. You know Anon there will always be people like you who knew the criminal before he was the criminal. However, Rayce was not the same person he was in high school or growing up. If you believe he was, then why does he have such a lengthy criminal record? Everyone believes that good people can go bad by the influence of drugs. The fact is that when Rayce allowed the drug to be more important than human life, he showed the world that night who he had become, and now was. He chose to run from the police, he chose to break into a strangers house, he chose to steal the truck, and he even chose to end his life by trying run over the police in that truck. At anytime, and I mean anytime, he could have gave up prior to being shot. The police could not have shot him until his actions were clear that he would cause “severe bodily harm” and a willingness to take the lives of others just so he could get away. Bottom line was Rayce was no longer that “good, everyone looks up to guy”. I 100 percent agree with the previous comments that this could be a seriously effective story about the reality of Meth. A former athlete and reported good person to a forceful drug dealer/pusher. Pretty sobering if you ask me because as it was previously stated this hits home, our home.
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0 0 Good observation….Observation.
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0 0 ditto, Observation, excellent post! Years ago, I worked in a courtroom where we regularly handled abuse and neglect cases; there was an interesting third category, called “dependence”, defined as a parent who was unable to care for a child due to circumstances beyond their control; usually the underlying facts were a mentally-ill mom who, through no fault of her own, could simply not provide a safe place for her child; then all these “dependency” cases started popping up where mom was smoking crack (often, using the kids’ WIC coupons to buy said crack) and was thus “unable” to care for her child. I fought hard to have the definitions changed, arguing that it was that mom’s (or dad’s) choice to pick up the crack pipe; I got shot down by every judge in the building, who stated basically that mom (dad) was powerless over the drug and, through no fault of his/her own, could not provide properly for his/her child.
It still is an outrage! If a person makes a choice, as Observation noted, to engage in using drugs, and places drugs above all other factors in his life, then we can’t, as a society, say “Oh, he’s not responsible” Until we start seeking personal responsibility, this issue–drug use and its consequences–will never have a happy ending.
I am all for spending money on drug treatment; part and parcel of this treatment is instilling personal responsibility in the drug users.
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0 0 I, too, believe that using is a personal responsibility issue. It may hurt like hell, it may pull you toward it with every vein in your body screaming for more, but in the end, it’s YOUR choice to use it or not. No matter how much your body wants or needs it, it’s still your decision.
I knew a junkie who did pretty good at resisting it, most of the time, since he started meth in the mid 80-s. But then he’d lose his will and start on the downward spiral again. After awhile he’d come back to normal and drag himself back to the land of the living.
This guy was also a really nice guy, funny and smart. When he was not using he was fairly productive, too. But I finally had to break free of being part of his life, because the highs weren’t worth the lows.
Wow, that sounds like a savvy anti-drug slogan, doesn’t it?? The highs aren’t worth the lows.
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0 0 I love the slogan!
I recently lost a dear friend to drugs; well, she committed suicide after losing her child to health and welfare and essentially losing her family, who had tried numerous interventions, without success and who had finally written her off as the only thing they felt they could do.
So yes, those highs were definitely not worth the terrible price the “lows” exacted. You hit it right on. Wish we could make kids see that before it even becomes a problem.
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0 0 First off I would like to commend most of you for the outstanding job of producing false information and the lousy job of displaying truth in this matter. Congradulations!!!
It has come to my attention that most of you have no clue of the real facts of this case and therefore should probably refrain from commenting on this matter until you have some facts.
He posed a threat to society?!
hmmm… there wasn’t any weapon found. No wonder why the police were searching for one three days after. Lets also remember this is an individual with no prior charges involving violence or weapons. In fact the interview of the people that he took the pickup from said he was “very polite” and they “never once felt threatened”. What an “armed and dangerous” individual!!
He was dri
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Lets hope the cops weren’t rude to anyone since that seems to matter more than anything else to some on here.
In all seriousness, great job by the cops. By the way, while your story is mostly correct there are some errors about the hostage part as the SWAT team was never involved as a couple of heroic officers, who have been known to be rude on occasion, risked their own lives to end the hostage situation swiftly and safely long before a SWAT team could have been called let alone arrive. I have a direct source but I really shouldn’t say much more since its all under investigation. I’m confident from what I’ve been told though that the shooting is justified. Now I just hope none of the cops exhibited any rudeness or bruskness while dealing with the extreme life and death situation.