Amid his shock and sorrow Monday over the death of Tobin Bolter, the former Pleasant Hill police officer slain while on duty as a sheriff’s deputy Saturday in Idaho, an old friend remembered when Bolter spotted him unexpectedly on a beach in Hawaii and laid a tackle on him for fun.
“That was him,” said Brandon Runyan, Bolter’s friend and onetime fellow coach at Berean Christian High in Walnut Creek. “He was everywhere. Always personable. Always happy. Always gracious. And he’d run as far as he could to give you a hug.”
Bolter, 27, was shot during a traffic stop while he worked as a deputy for the Ada County Sheriff’s Office in Idaho. According to that office, Bolter made a traffic stop about 8:55 p.m. on Saturday; at some point during the stop, a suspect opened fire.
A citizen who witnessed the shooting called 911 and performed CPR until medics arrived, authorities said. Bolter died after being taken to a hospital.
“We joined in mourning with the Ada County Sheriff’s Office in the loss of prior Pleasant Hill Police Officer Tobin Bolter,” the Pleasant Hill Police Department wrote on social media Sunday evening. “Deputy Bolter was senselessly shot while working to protect the community he so happily and dutifully swore to protect.”
Authorities in Idaho announced Bolter’s death at a news conference Sunday. He joined the sheriff’s office in January after working briefly with the Meridian Police Department in Idaho.
The Idaho Statesman reported that Ada County Sheriff’s Office deputies later shot and killed the 65-year-old suspect, saying that he fired at deputies when they tried to take him into custody.
Bolter graduated in 2015 from Berean Christian High and served as a cadet for the city’s police force, the Walnut Creek Police Department said on social media. State employment records show Bolter worked as a Pleasant Hill police officer from 2018 to May 2022 after completing his field training.
While in the Bay Area, he coached track and cross country at his alma mater. The school’s principal, Nick Harris, said Monday that Bolter was instrumental in helping to shepherd students through the Covid pandemic in 2020.
“He brought people and students together,” Harris said. “He was probably the happiest guy you’ve ever met. He always had a smile. He was always willing to say yes to whatever was needed that would help.”
Bolter was married but did not yet have children, according to friends. He relocated out of California in hopes of finding a quieter, more affordable place to start a family, Runyan said.
“I always felt like he was older than he was,” Harris said. “He was an old soul. I always looked at him as if he was a peer. I had decades on him, but he always felt like a peer. He was a special guy.”
Pleasant Hill police expressed their sorrow on social media.
“Our hearts and prayers are with Deputy Bolter’s wife and family, as well as the Ada County Sheriff’s Office as they face this challenging time,” they wrote.
