Sheriff Troyer tells his side of newspaper carrier encounter. Next: prosecutor questions
Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer took the stand in his criminal trial Thursday to tell his side of the encounter with his neighborhood’s newspaper carrier, which prompted him to report a death threat to the county’s 911 center.
The sheriff’s statement to a South Sound 911 dispatcher on Jan. 27, 2021, that he “caught someone in my driveway who just threatened to kill me” spurred a countywide distress call reserved for officers in danger and natural disasters. More than 40 officers were dispatched initially and about a dozen arrived at the scene.
Troyer told jurors that he didn’t intend for that level of emergency response and called a subsequent Tacoma police report saying he told officers at the scene he wasn’t threatened “inaccurate.” The state Attorney General’s Office charged him with one count of false reporting and one count of making a false or misleading statement to a public servant last October.
“I wouldn’t do that,” Troyer said of the false reporting charges. “The reason why I’m here is the media has made me out to be a racist and the state has made me out to be a liar.”
The officer who wrote the report, Chad Lawless, stood by his report during testimony Wednesday. The newspaper carrier, Sedrick Altheimer, a 26-year-old who is Black, testified Monday that he never threatened the sheriff, who he alleges racially profiled him.
Prosecutors from the state Attorney General’s Office will question Troyer during cross-examination on Monday.
The sheriff, who has called the case against him politically motivated and rejected calls to resign, said from the witness stand that the events in question began when he heard “banging around” near his garage below his master bedroom window.
When Troyer peeked out, he saw a car with no headlights on driving away from his house in northwest Tacoma and then into two of his neighbor’s driveways, he testified.
“It caused me concern,” said Troyer, who testified his neighborhood is quiet but also experiences car prowling and mail theft. “It was suspicious.”
Troyer said he decided he should try to figure out what the motorist was doing or get a license plate. By the time he got to his Chevy Tahoe, the car he saw from his window was gone.
He said he drove about three blocks before he saw the car parked near a driveway facing the wrong direction with no headlights on. Altheimer testified earlier this week that he encountered Troyer a total of three times throughout the neighborhood.
“I drove and pulled up behind it (the car),” Troyer testified. “And as I slowed down the driver got out, walked back towards me.”
Troyer said the man, who he later learned was Altheimer, looked mad, and he could see he was Black for the first time.
“He was screaming at me,” Troyer said. “I heard words like, ‘I’ll take you out.’ ”
“Take you out” is the phrase Troyer testified he heard as a death threat. He joked on the stand, “I don’t think he meant to dinner.”
Altheimer told the jury earlier this week he never said that to Troyer.
The sheriff testified Altheimer got up close to his car, “was swinging his arms” and at one point put his hands on the vehicle. “I was kind of in shock,” he said.
Troyer said Altheimer motioned to him like he wanted him to get out of the car, but soon he got back into his car and started driving away.
“That’s when I started calling,” said Troyer.
The sheriff called the direct line to dispatchers that he’d used often in his two decades as the sheriff’s department spokesperson to get information about critical incidents, he testified. He said he has the number – referred to by some as the “BS line” due to the casual nature of most calls – on speed dial and knows it “by heart.”
Shortly thereafter, Altheimer turned around and was driving back toward Troyer, the sheriff testified. Altheimer testified earlier this week that it was Troyer who turned around toward him.
The sheriff said Altheimer parked about two car lengths away from him with his headlights on. He said Altheimer was yelling and said, “You’re only chasing me because I’m Black.”
“I had already called 911 and told them what had happened,” said Troyer. He said he asked dispatch for one or two patrol cars to respond in hopes of de-escalating the situation and gave the information about the threat so responding officers could be prepared for a “hostile situation.” He was worried an officer could be injured or killed.
A recording of Troyer’s call showed he told dispatchers four times that he was threatened by Altheimer, who denied threatening Troyer or touching his car on the stand this week.
“I would have felt bad, I would have felt terrible,” Troyer said about a responding officer getting hurt. “When I say, ‘Killed,’ I’m not exaggerating.”
Troyer said Lawless was the third or fourth police officer he spoke to at the scene.
“He said something to the effect about the threats,” Troyer said, recalling the question as, “What about the threats?”
Troyer testified he responded, “I’m not worried about it.”
“I never denied it,” Troyer testified. “I never said no.”
“We never got into that much detail about what was going on,” the sheriff said. “It was a short conversation.”
Troyer also said if Altheimer had told him he was a newspaper carrier from the beginning that the situation could have been avoided.
“I said, ‘Let him go do his job,’ ” once Troyer found out, he testified.
The sheriff said he assumed the incident wouldn’t come up again, then he heard from the Seattle Times last year. On the stand, he criticized the subsequent article that publicized the case as one-sided.
“I didn’t even know there was that minimal, basic (police) report until the Seattle Times called me and told me about it,” Troyer said.
Defense motions to dismiss case
Prior to Troyer’s testimony, defense attorneys attempted to have the charges against the sheriff dismissed entirely. They also sought to question the sheriff about his perception that his prosecution by the Attorney General was politically motivated.
On the latter, Jahns denied the motion and ordered the defense not to raise it again.
“This is a unique case,” said defense attorney Anne Bremner, a refrain she used multiple times Thursday.
Bremner asserted the state’s relatively new false reporting law is related to 911 calls, while Troyer has access to a direct line to dispatchers for non-emergencies. She also said his request for one or two patrol cars didn’t constitute requesting an emergency response and dispatchers were the ones to enter a countywide distress call on his behalf.
“He didn’t knowingly cause this emergency through a false statement,” Bremner said. “How can you convict someone for something they never intended?”
Visiting Kitsap County Judge Jeffrey Jahns said “there is almost no appellate case law” on the misdemeanor charges Troyer is facing that could help guide his decision.
Assistant Attorney General Melanie Tratnik argued that “an emergency isn’t a million cars going to the scene,” so Troyer’s ask for one or two cars was enough on its own.
Tratnik also said the jury should have the opportunity to weigh Altheimer’s testimony against Troyer’s to determine who is telling the truth.
“The state has met its burden at this juncture,” Tratnik said.
Bremner initially asked for the weekend to research legal precedent, but after lunch her co-counsel Nick Gross requested to add more reasoning to their motion to dismiss. Jahns told them he would only issue one ruling, so defense attorneys needed to decide if they wanted it Thursday or Monday.
“This is not two bites at the apple,” Jahns said.
“Then we ask the court to rule now,” Gross responded later.
Gross said his reading of the law was that prosecutors needed to prove Troyer’s call directly caused the emergency response and this his statement about a death threat alone was enough for dispatchers to send police to the scene. Gross argued the state doesn’t have evidence of either.
“It may not have been a Priority 0 help the officer call, but an emergency response would have been initiated,” Gross said about Troyer’s other statements about Altheimer’s car being suspicious, going into driveways and blocking the sheriff in.
Tratnik said South Sound 911 dispatchers testified at length that Troyer’s report of a death threat was critical to how they handled his call.
“What has to be shown is the false statement initiated the emergency response,” said Tratnik, who noted one of the first things a dispatcher typed from his call was “threats to kill.”
Jahns ultimately decided he wanted to weigh their arguments over the weekend and issue a ruling Monday.
Other defense witnesses testify
Earlier Thursday morning, defense attorneys continued questioning Troyer’s wife, Wendy Kaleiwahea-Troyer. Her testimony was cut short at the end of proceedings Wednesday as she became tearful while talking about the case’s impact on her family and the protests outside her home.
Kaleiwahea-Troyer testified that the sheriff woke her up when he returned home and she overheard a phone call where he was talking about the incident.
“He found the car and the driver got out of the car and threatened him and confronted him,” she said about her recollection of what her husband talked about.
Hours later, she said she saw Altheimer outside their house yelling. The sheriff later testified he heard Altheimer rev his engine and watched him throw a newspaper into the driveway.
But the day began with argument about whether the defense should be allowed to call former Pierce County Council candidate Josh Harris to the stand. Harris lives Tacoma’s North End and came forward with his own story about an encounter with Altheimer.
Prosecutors said Harris’ testimony was irrelevant and opinionated, while defense attorneys asserted he would contradict Altheimer’s characterization of their interactions earlier this week.
Jahns agreed bringing up “prior bad blood” between Harris and Altheimer could be confusing to the jury and “really has nothing to do with this case,” but said defense attorneys should be able to call him and ask limited questions impeaching Altheimer’s testimony.
“He might want to tell the whole story and I’m just not going to allow that to happen,” Jahns said.
Prosecutors asked to question Harris about “two crimes of dishonesty” related to altering checks and false insurance claims, but Jahns ruled the state should have provided advanced written notice if it wanted to do so. He also didn’t allow the state to ask about a May incident where Harris shot a man who he suspected to be a thief in the head, ruling it was outside the scope of the trial.
Harris told the jury his encounter with Altheimer began when he and his wife were driving home from a charity event and saw Altheimer’s car parked near their house with its headlights off. He said the car pulled into another driveway after he’d been watching for several minutes.
After he dropped his wife off at home, Harris said he continued to follow Altheimer until he felt tired and decided to confront him. Harris paraphrased Altheimer’s response: “Mind your own F-ing business.”
Harris said he left after Altheimer got out of the car, threw a newspaper that he had under his sweatshirt and said he was the newspaper carrier. Harris said he was armed and thought Altheimer could have been shot for acting how he did.
Harris said Altheimer later came to his door and threw a newspaper as he was walking away.
Altheimer’s aunt, Kim Brown, who is also a newspaper carrier, testified after Harris. She said she spoke to her nephew in the hours after the incident with Troyer.
“He was upset, he was enraged, he was cussing,” Brown testified.
Jahns prohibited Brown from testifying about the advice she gave him: hold a newspaper out of the window to relieve suspicion about their erratic, late-night driving.
“He doesn’t take advice very well,” Brown said during limited testimony.
This story was originally published December 8, 2022 at 6:24 PM.
