MERIDIAN, Idaho—Gubernatorial candidate Ammon Bundy has been arrested after refusing to leave a hospital in connection with a child welfare case, police said Saturday.
Bundy was arrested at about 1:15 a.m. on Saturday on suspicion of misdemeanor trespassing at St. Luke’s Meridian Medical Center in Meridian, west of Boise, the Idaho Statesman reported.
The arrest concerned a 10-month-old determined to be “suffering from severe malnourishment” and at risk of injury or death, the Meridian Police Department said in a news release. The baby’s parents had refused to let officers check on its welfare after the family canceled an appointment.
Bundy urged his followers to go to the hospital to support the family.
Bundy wrote on Twitter on Saturday that “last night my very good friend Diego’s grandson was medically kidnapped because a medical practitioner called (child protective services) for a missed doctor appointment. If this happened to them, it could happen to you.”
One other person was arrested on suspicion of trespassing at the hospital, and two people were arrested earlier Friday in a related incident on suspicion of resisting or obstructing police.
Bundy is well-known for participating in armed standoffs with law enforcement, notably at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon in 2016, and on federal land near his family’s ranch in Nevada in 2014.
He’s also scheduled to stand trial this week on three charges from a previous trespassing case at the Idaho Capitol.
