The Kootenai County prosecutor has apologized for having a misdemeanor theft suspect arrested and lodged in the juvenile detention center. County prosecutor Barry McHugh issued a written apology for ordering an arrest warrant for a Post Falls boy last week.
He said his office, as he put it, was hasty in requesting a judge to issue the warrant without at least a cursory investigation of the facts. McHugh said he should have sought a court-ordered child protection investigation.
The arrest warrant put the Post Falls police department in an awkward place, forcing officers to pick up the boy after he had missed an initial court date. The boy's name was not released because he is a minor.
The Post Falls police chief said if he had known the boy's mother had no way to get him to court that he could have sent an officer to pick him up and take him home later.
McHugh said he's talked with his staff about the importance of reviewing underlying circumstances of criminal cases, especially those involving children. The boy in this case is 9 years old. His alleged crime? Stealing a pack of gum.
