Cameras should have been on at crash scene with Pierce County major, Swank says
All Pierce County Sheriff’s Office personnel who went to the scene of a two-car collision allegedly caused by Maj. Chadwick Dickerson should have had their body-cameras activated, Sheriff Keith Swank said in a Thursday afternoon press conference.
Speaking to reporters on the lawn of the County-City Building in Tacoma, Swank said an Internal Affairs investigation was opened to look into the conduct of the deputies who were at the scene that day as soon as he reviewed charging documents filed against Dickerson.
Those documents accuse Dickerson of driving under the influence when he crashed his pickup into an SUV near Graham on July 12, injuring an 8-year-old boy and his 57-year-old grandmother. They also allege that a sergeant on the scene manually turned his body camera off before speaking with Dickerson, and that deputies didn’t have their cameras turned on the entire time.
“I believe everybody that arrived at that scene that day should have had their camera on,” Swank said.
Swank said he didn’t know if there was anything he could do about it because the Sheriff’s Office’s policy on body cameras states that the devices “should” be activated during certain situations, including traffic stops and investigative contacts.
He added that the policy was in place before he began his term as sheriff in January.
“Had I been the sheriff when this was written, the key word would be “shall,” we shall turn on our cameras,” Swank said.
Changing the policy, according to Swank, would involve negotiations with the union that represents his deputies. However, he said he would inform everyone in the Sheriff’s Office that body cameras should be turned on no matter whom they’re interacting with.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s the sheriff, or the undersheriff, or the mayor, or the executive, or the governor, or the president,” Swank said. “You’ll have your body-worn camera on. And you won’t do it just because you — for whatever reason maybe they didn’t want to embarrass them. I don’t know what the case may be, but it should be on, and if it ends up it’s me it should be on then also.”
Dickerson, his wife and adult daughter were allowed to pick up collision debris and remove items from Dickerson’s pickup truck before a Washington State Patrol trooper arrived, according to court documents. Swank said that “should not have happened.”
Dickerson, 52, was charged Wednesday with two counts of DUI vehicular assault for the incident following a months-long investigation by the Washington State Patrol. Charging papers say his blood-alcohol level was 0.091 when his blood was drawn more than three hours after the wreck. The legal limit in Washington is .08.
Dickerson is expected to appear for an arraignment hearing to enter a plea to those charges Nov. 6. He has worked for the Sheriff’s Office since August 2000 and has no prior criminal history. He has remained on paid administrative leave since his July arrest.
Asked by reporters what Dickerson’s status in the Sheriff’s Office would be going forward, Swank said he would provide an update Monday. He also said he believes in due process for everyone, including people who work for the Sheriff’s Office.
“We are going to evaluate things and hold ourselves accountable like we always will,” Swank said.
Swank takes aim at Prosecutor Mary Robnett: ‘Disrespectful’
Swank used part of the press conference to personally attack Prosecutor Mary Robnett as “disrespectful” because he was not given charging documents for Dickerson before the news media. He said Robnett called him at 3:14 p.m. Wednesday to inform him that Dickerson was going to be charged. After he hung up with her, Swank said, a public information officer began crafting a press release, but a short time later he was told KING 5 News wanted to interview him.
“I didn’t have any answers at the time because I had not reviewed anything,” Swank said.
“I received it after the media received it, which I believe is disrespectful,” he added. “I believe that the prosecutor should have given it to me in advance.”
On social media, Swank posted Thursday morning that Robnett or someone in the Prosecutor’s Office gave it to the media first to “blindside” him.
Adam Faber, a spokesperson for the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, said Swank was the first person to be notified about the charges. He said charging documents were posted to the county’s judicial records system, LINX, at 3:12 p.m., so they were publicly available, and Robnett called Swank two minutes later.
“When this incident happened back in July, we received many inquiries from reporters about it, and some have followed up since then,” Faber said. “Yesterday, as we would normally do, we updated those reporters when we filed charges. At 3:39-3:40, I emailed seven different news outlets with an update, and I included charging documents.”
“People throughout the law enforcement and courts system, including in the Sheriff’s Office, know how to use LINX and find charging documents,” Faber said. “I would also point out that the body-camera footage from that day has always been in the possession of the department.”
At the press conference, Swank said LINX wasn’t in his wheelhouse as sheriff, and he didn’t know how to even log into the system.
“Typically, executives of an organization have people who will give that to them,” Swank said. “And they would have given it to me had anybody given it to me in advance before it was given to the media. But it wasn’t.”
This story was originally published October 23, 2025 at 3:20 PM.
