Breaking News

More () »

Idaho

Idaho family reaches settlement in cyanide bomb lawsuit

A 14-year-old boy was injured and his dog killed when the device, set up by the USDA to kill coyotes, exploded in 2017.

Credit: AP

FILE - This March 16, 2017, file photo released by the Bannock County Sheriff's Office shows a cyanide device in Pocatello, Idaho, The cyanide device, called M-44, is spring-activated and shoots poison that is meant to kill predators. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has taken an initial step to reauthorize a predator-killing poison that injured a boy in eastern Idaho and killed his dog. The federal agency on Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2019, announced an interim decision involving sodium cyanide that's used in M-44s. (Bannock County Sheriff's Office via AP, File)

POCATELLO, Idaho — The federal government has admitted negligence and agreed to pay an Idaho family nearly $40,000 to resolve a lawsuit after an M-44 “cyanide bomb” placed near the family’s home exploded, killing the family’s dog and spewing poison on a 14-year-old boy.

Reed Larsen, the Pocatello attorney who represented Mark and Theresa Mansfield and their son, Canyon, in the lawsuit, says the settlement is a victory for the family.

The device, designed to kill coyotes, had been set up on public land near Pocatello by the U.S. Agriculture Department in February 2017.

Canyon was out playing with his Labrador Kasey the next month when he accidentally triggered the spring-loaded device.

Watch more 'Local News'

See them all in our YouTube playlist: