AG to launch criminal investigation into Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer
The Washington state Attorney General’s Office is launching a criminal investigation into Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer’s confrontation with a Black newspaper carrier.
The investigation comes at the request of Gov. Jay Inslee, who made the announcement Friday.
“The initial reports of these events were very concerning to me, and I had hoped to see some action taken to initiate a criminal investigation at the local level,” Inslee said in a written statement. “But, to my knowledge, that has not happened almost three months after the incident. So now the state is stepping in.”
Inslee spokesman Mike Faulk said Troyer’s statements to a dispatcher the night of the confrontation might be interpreted as criminal.
“That’s what the investigation will determine, but, at a minimum, the statements he made to the 911 operator may rise to the level of criminal false reporting, RCW 9A.84.040,” Faulk said.
“We will conduct a diligent, fact-based review,” Attorney General Bob Ferguson said in a statement.
Troyer said Friday he had not been notified by state officials about the investigation.
“Just like with the local investigation being conducted by the Pierce County Council, I welcome any and all inquiries into the event that occurred on Jan 27,” Troyer said. “I and the department will fully cooperate with the investigation and look forward to it being done.”
Troyer has been widely criticized for the Jan. 27 incident near his Tacoma home.
After seeing headlights going up and down neighboring driveways about 2:15 a.m. Troyer got in his personal SUV and went to see what was happening. He has said he only planned on jotting down the license plate number if he could find the vehicle.
Sedrick Altheimer, 24, noticed the SUV following him and stopped to confront Troyer.
That prompted the newly elected sheriff to call 911 and tell dispatchers a man had threatened to kill him. He requested one or two patrol cars to the scene, according to audio of the nearly five-minute call with dispatchers, but his call prompted an officer-in-trouble signal, and 42 law enforcement officers started to respond. Most were called off after the first Tacoma patrol car arrived and found no signs of danger.
A police report written by officer Chad Lawless says Troyer “advised that Altheimer never threatened him and he did not observe Altheimer with any weapons.”
Troyer said Tacoma police misunderstood him when he said he didn’t want anything done about the carrier’s alleged threat.
Altheimer told officers no threats were made during his conversation with Troyer.
There is no body camera footage of Troyer speaking with the officer because Lawless said he forgot to grab his body camera off the charger in his rush to get to the scene.
Washington Black Lives Matter Alliance and other activist groups have called for a criminal investigation into Troyer’s actions and for him to resign. Signs reading “Resign, Ed” have cropped up throughout Tacoma.
The Pierce County Council hired former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington Brian Moran to investigate Troyer’s confrontation with Altheimer.
No timeline has been given for that investigation to be complete.
On Friday, Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney Mary Robnett’s Office released a statement regarding the case.
According to the statement, Robnett on April 5 asked Thurston County Prosecuting Attorney Jon Tunheim to “potentially handle this issue” because Robnett has a conflict of interest as her office acts as legal counsel to all Pierce County department heads, including the sheriff.
In a letter to Tunheim, she wrote: “To the extent there is ever any need for a county prosecutor to review this case or to arrange for further criminal investigation, I request that you serve as prosecutor due to my obvious conflict of interest.”
Tunheim accepted that role, according the Friday’s statement, which also said, “Any decisions regarding county-level handling of a potential case stemming from this matter will continue to be made by Mr. Tunheim.”
This story was originally published April 23, 2021 at 2:44 PM.
