Idaho elected official accused of stabbing girl in attack along Payette River
An elected official in Idaho has been accused of holding a woman at knifepoint and stabbing a girl during an argument with an Ada County family on the Payette River last summer, according to a civil lawsuit the family filed against him and two other men.
Boise County Commissioner Darrell “Lindy” Lindstrom and two others are named as defendants in the lawsuit filed March 26 in Boise County on behalf of plaintiffs Abby and Treyson Beard and a minor identified as having tuberculosis. The lawsuit alleges that the defendants “touched, pushed, hit, and beat” the family, causing traumatic injuries, including ongoing emotional distress.
Lindstrom did not respond to a request for comment.
According to the lawsuit, the Beards were floating down the Main Payette River on private rafts on Aug. 23, 2025, when they approached the Parnell Beach Recreation Area, an outlet about 4 miles north of Horseshoe Bend on Idaho 55.
About a mile from Parnell Beach, a group of men on jet skis began riding at high speeds near the Beards’ raft, the lawsuit said. The jet ski drivers allegedly had open containers of alcohol and one had two young children on the jet ski.
The lawsuit said the minor, TB, “made direct gestures” to a group of boys because “they were careless, dangerous, and the boys’ presence was disruptive.”
When the family pulled their raft from the river at Parnell Beach around 7 p.m., the men followed and began acting aggressively, according to the lawsuit. According to the lawsuit, one of the defendants and an unidentified man approached and asked, “who wants to fight?” he asked. The lawsuit stated that the unidentified man pushed Abby to the ground and pushed TB into the water, which caused an unrelated third party named Dylan to intervene in a physical altercation with the unidentified man.
The lawsuit alleged that Treyson filmed the fight between Dylan and the man, while one of the defendants and the unidentified man threatened to kill Beards.
Abby Beard later removed a “river safety knife” from her raft, still in its sheath, out of fear for her own life and the safety of her children, the lawsuit said. He asked the men in the jet ski group to leave the area, which they did. They took the two children off the jet ski to a nearby property and then returned with the third defendant, Lindstrom, and another unidentified man, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit stated that the identities of the two unidentified men are still unknown.
When the men returned to the beach, they clashed with each other and asked “who was going to pick her up,” the lawsuit said.
“Fearing for her life and that of her children, Abby unsheathed the knife and swung it in hopes of scaring the aggressive and confrontational men,” the lawsuit said.
That’s when Lindstrom allegedly grabbed Abby, pinned her to the ground, took the sheathed knife from her, held it to her throat and said, “I’m going to kill you, b—h,” the lawsuit said.
TB tried to intervene and Lindstrom stabbed him in the leg, then threw the knife into the river, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit also said one of the co-defendants punched Treyson in the back of the head before climbing on top of him and beating him. This attack caused “serious facial and dental injuries requiring medical and dental care.”
According to the lawsuit, Lindstrom pulled away from Abby, who stood up, saw Treyson and TB’s injuries, and once again demanded the men leave the area. Meanwhile, others in the Beards’ group sought help from the rafting shuttle stop, and a police officer and ambulance arrived to transport the tuberculosis to Saint Alphonsus hospital in Boise.
The lawsuit stated that TB had “a large cut mark on the outside of his left leg, near his knee, deep into the muscle, two small stab wounds near his knee, and an injury to his hand while trying to take the knife from Lindstrom.”
The plaintiffs filed a police report but faced “delays and stalling” by Boise County officials before learning that Lindstrom was a Boise County commissioner, the court document said.
Boise County Sheriff Scott Turner did not respond to a request for comment. None of the men were criminally charged in connection with the alleged incident.
Boise County Prosecutor Alex Sosa told the Idaho Statesman in an email that the sheriff’s office “did not complete the investigation due to a heavy caseload” and said his office would refer any case to another county due to a conflict of interest.
Terri R. Pickens, the Beards’ attorney, told the Statesman that “due to unexplained delays by law enforcement,” her clients “had no choice but to initiate civil litigation to recover damages.”
“It is unfortunate that an elected official would so casually engage in the conduct alleged (and will be proven) in the complaint,” Pickens said. “We are encouraged that the justice system will work and my clients will prevail despite both physical and emotional injuries.”
