Will Sheriff Ed Troyer be put on prosecutors’ list of witnesses with credibility issues?
Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer could be added to a potential impeachment list in light of the criminal charges recently filed over his confrontation with a Black newspaper carrier.
The Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office maintains a “potential impeachment recurring witness list” of people who have credibility issues, which the office is required to turn over to defense attorneys. A judge determines on a case-by-case basis whether information about witnesses on the list should be introduced at trial.
A 10-person committee chaired by chief criminal deputy Jim Schacht regularly meets to deal with matters related to the impeachment list.
It was Schacht who referred Troyer’s case to the committee.
“The PI committee will be discussing the Sheriff Troyer situation at its regularly scheduled meeting next week,” said Adam Faber, spokesman for the Prosecutor’s Office. “A letter may be issued to the Sheriff’s Department following that meeting.”
If the committee decides to consider adding Troyer to the list, it will request from the department all information relevant to the accusation.
In this case, that would be information related to a Jan. 27 interaction between Troyer and Sedrick Altheimer, a 24-year-old newspaper carrier, near Troyer’s Tacoma home.
Their encounter prompted Troyer to tell an emergency dispatcher the other man had threatened to kill him, which Altheimer denied. A dispatcher concerned for the sheriff’s safety sent out an “officer needs help” alert that started 42 law enforcement officers to the scene.
On Tuesday, the Washington State Attorney General’s Office charged Troyer with false reporting and making a false or misleading statement to a public servant.
They allege Troyer “knew the information was false, and knew the report would likely cause an emergency response.”
Troyer has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.
“The Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office has a process they go through,” he told The News Tribune Thursday. “I can’t control it, but trust they recognize that the Attorney General’s allegations are meritless.”
There are currently 110 people on the potential impeachment list, not all of whom are law enforcement officers. Some people on the list have retired or moved out of area.
It was not immediately clear whether the committee would request investigative materials for Troyer’s case from the Attorney General’s Office or the findings from a independent investigation conducted at the request of the County Council.
This story was originally published October 21, 2021 at 1:38 PM.
