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BOISE, Idaho — St. Luke's Health System has filed a lawsuit against Ammon Bundy, a far-right independent candidate for Idaho governor, and others involved in a slew of protests in March related to a child protective services case — protests that prompted the hospital to go on lockdown.
The St. Luke's complaint was filed in Ada County on Wednesday, with Bundy; his activist organization, the People's Rights Network; and Diego Rodriguez, a Bundy campaign adviser and the grandfather of the child involved, as named defendants. Other defendants are Bundy's campaign, and a website and political action committee operated by Rodriguez.
In March, police took custody of a 10-month-old baby at a gas station in Garden City after authorities said they feared the baby's weight loss was potentially life-threatening. Bundy drove from his home in Emmett to St. Luke's Meridian Medical Center that same evening and eventually was arrested for misdemeanor trespassing after trying to get authorities to release the child.
Over the next week, a series of protests, orchestrated by Bundy and his People's Rights organization, drew crowds at St. Luke's Boise Medical Center, where protesters believed the baby was receiving care. Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin, a candidate for governor in the Republican primary, also attended one of the protests, Rodriguez told the Statesman.
In addition, protests took place at the Ada County Courthouse, where the custody matter was adjudicated, and at the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare headquarters, which oversees Idaho's child welfare and foster care programs.
"The complaint alleges there was a concerted effort to disrupt St. Luke's business through false statements related to care and repeated defamation of St. Luke's parties," said a Wednesday statement from St. Luke's.
Read the entire article at the Idaho Statesman.
