Ex-Idaho cop tied to white supremacy alleges discrimination
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A retired longtime police captain whose ties to a white supremacist group have prompted an in-depth investigation of potential racism at the Boise Police Department filed a discrimination complaint against the city in November.
Matthew Bryngelson, who oversaw the patrol division and retired in August, alleges age and disability discrimination in a complaint filed with Idaho’s Human Rights Commission and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Idaho Statesman reported.
The complaint was filed Nov. 8, less than two weeks before Bryngelson’s racist ties became public. An attorney who filed the complaint, J. Grady Hepworth, told the newspaper his firm no longer represents Bryngelson and declined to comment further. Bryngelson couldn’t be reached for comment by the newspaper.
Hepworth Law Offices has represented other Boise police employees with grievances against the department and the city, including Jesus Jara, the Office of Police Accountability director who was put on administrative leave on Dec. 2, and retired captain Tom Fleming, who filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the city in November as well as alleging age and disability discrimination.
The Bryngelson complaint alleges he had been “diagnosed with severe depression and anxiety,” and that in September 2021 he became “despondent and suicidal as a result of the harassment and workplace hostility from Chief Ryan Lee.”
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