In the early morning hours of February 24, 2019, a dispute that began over jukebox music inside a Hayden, Idaho bar called The Tipsy Pine escalated into a fatal encounter in the parking lot outside. Michael Christopher Clark, a 45-year-old White male known to his friends as "Topher," was shot and killed during the altercation. The Kootenai County Sheriff's Office responded to a call about the shooting at approximately 1:40 a.m.
and discovered Clark unresponsive in the Hayden Creek Plaza parking lot. Despite life-saving measures attempted by deputies before he was transported to a local hospital, Clark succumbed to multiple gunshot wounds to his chest, stomach, back, and bicep.
The incident reportedly began when Clark confronted another patron, Scott M. White, about his loud behavior while playing songs on the bar's jukebox. Witnesses stated that White addressed Clark by name, which seemed to alarm Clark as he claimed not to know him. The argument between the two men turned physical, with reports indicating that White threw the first punch, striking Clark in the head. The fight then moved outside into the parking lot.
In the parking lot, the confrontation reached its deadly conclusion when Clark was shot multiple times. Following the shooting, one of Clark's friends who had been inside the bar retrieved a gun from his own vehicle and detained the suspect at gunpoint until law enforcement arrived. Deputies arrived to find this scene, with Clark wounded and the alleged shooter being held by a bystander.
The suspect was identified as 33-year-old Scott M. White of Coeur d'Alene. He was arrested at the scene and charged with second-degree murder, with his bond set at $1 million. Reports from deputies at the scene noted that White appeared to be "extremely intoxicated" and had suffered injuries including a chipped tooth and abrasions to his elbows, face, head, and hands from the brawl. White later admitted to detectives that he had been drinking at home before his girlfriend drove him to the bar. Interestingly, Michael Christopher Clark was a figure who had gained some level of notoriety years earlier for his involvement in a marijuana smuggling ring, a story that was chronicled in a 2005 Rolling Stone article and later depicted in the 2014 movie "Kid Cannabis."
