Pierce County deputies who opened fire during deadly SWAT arrest in Spanaway identified
Four Pierce County sheriff’s deputies were identified Thursday as those who opened fire during a deadly SWAT arrest last month in Spanaway, which ended with one deputy killed, another one shot and the suspect dead.
The incident occurred March 15, when the SWAT team was dispatched to assist the South Sound Gang Task Force in serving an arrest warrant on a man charged with second-degree assault. The Pierce County Force Investigation Team has said that when SWAT was deployed in the 18800 block of Pacific Avenue, the suspect opened fire from inside a vehicle “within seconds.”
Two SWAT team members were struck, and four deputies returned fire. PCFIT, which investigates all police uses of deadly force in the county, identified those deputies in a news release.
The deputies who fired back were Sgt. Richard Scaniffe, 45, who has been with the Sheriff’s Department for 21 years; Sgt. Robert Shaw, 43, who has been with the department for 15 years; Deputy Tyler Seavey, 28, a five-year veteran; and Deputy Nathan Coggin, 31, who has worked for the department for four years.
Scaniffe was one of two deputies shot during the incident. Deputy Dominique “Dom” Calata also was shot and died from his injuries the next day. Calata was a 6-1/2 year veteran of the Sheriff’s Department and assigned to the City of Edgewood.
The man deputies were there to arrest, 40-year-old Jeremy Dayton, was struck by deputies’ gunfire and died at the scene. He was a convicted felon facing possible life in prison under Washington’s three strikes law.
PCFIT is continuing to investigate the shooting.
This story was originally published April 8, 2022 at 8:00 AM.
