By going ‘Karen’ on a newspaper carrier, Ed Troyer has fractured public trust (again)
You don’t have to squint to see how things could have been tragic. It doesn’t take a giant leap of the imagination to envision a scenario where a life was lost or forever altered.
After newly elected Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer set off a chain of dangerous and unnecessary events early on the morning of Jan. 27 — just two months after the longtime public face of the department was sworn in as its top leader — there’s little question that Sedrick Altheimer had every right to fear for his life.
As The Seattle Times first reported, Altheimer is the 24-year-old newspaper carrier at the heart of the latest controversy embroiling Pierce County’s top cop. Delivering papers in Tacoma’s West end, Altheimer says he was minding his own business — and doing his job — when Troyer, who lives in the neighborhood, mistakenly singled him out as a potential criminal.
Altheimer, who is Black, tells a harrowing tale, first of being followed by Troyer’s personal SUV and later being surrounded by responding Tacoma police officers. The picture painted of Troyer provides yet another example of racial injustice for critics of law enforcement, while effectively casting Pierce County’s sheriff in the mold of the well-worn “Karen” meme.
With the dust still settling, a few questions are destined to painfully linger and reverberate over the coming days and months.
The 911 call reveals Troyer telling the dispatcher that Altheimer had threatened him, though it’s a claim he abandoned when speaking to law enforcement on the scene, according to the police report. During a round of press interviews Friday, the outspoken sheriff argued that there’s more to the story, maintaining that the father of five had pledged to “take me out.” For a man who spent nearly two decades providing the official police version of events to the public, it’s an ironic twist of fate.
Was it racial profiling? Altheimer told the Times he thinks so, and there’s little wonder why. Troyer denies this, as one might expect, but it doesn’t make the question go away. In the aftermath of the new sheriff’s highly criticized public handling of the Manuel Ellis investigation, it’s also likely to destroy the department’s relationship with local communities of color, if that hadn’t happened already.
Here’s what we know for certain: In that moment, given the potentially combustible overreaction and the experience of so many people of color who came before Altheimer, we should all be thankful it wasn’t worse.
At the same time, we should also question — vigorously and thoroughly — what on earth Troyer was thinking, and just how those thoughts arrived?
Beyond the unavoidable dynamics or race and class — Troyer reportedly told 911 dispatchers that Altheimer’s 1995 Geo Prizm was “beat-up” and “homeless-looking” — there are other serious concerns about how the elected sheriff carried himself in the heat of the moment. Even in the most generous light, his decisions that night were ones that a rookie cop should know to avoid, let alone the boss.
When Troyer — who told The News Tribune he was watching TV at 2 a.m. — saw Altheimer making his way through the neighborhood, he didn’t have to jump into superhero cop mode. He could have simply called it in, as any off-duty officer or resident would be well advised to do. Instead, he decided to go rogue and follow Altheimer, belligerently escalating the situation while potentially putting lives in danger.
As sheriff, Troyer should be the standard bearer, not a liability. The lack of judgment and professionalism he displayed is damning. He created this mess. He broke the public’s trust.
In the days that have followed publication of the Times’ story, calls for answers justifiably came just as fast. The Pierce County Council issued a statement in response saying that it was “eager to learn more about the circumstances of that night,” and on Monday started down that path. On Twitter, County Executive Bruce Dammeier described the story as “alarming.”
The Washington Black Lives Matter Alliance quickly called for an investigation into Troyer’s actions, demanding that he be suspended, while the Tacoma Urban League described him as “a threat” and the Tacoma Action Collective again demanded his resignation.
Knowing Troyer — and given his statements to The News Tribune — we shouldn’t hold our breath.
Amid all of this, Tacoma and Pierce County residents are left to pick up the pieces. A year after Manuel Ellis was killed in police custody and the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department publicly botched the subsequent investigation, we once again find ourselves in the center of the national debate over policing and race, for all the wrong reasons.
Troyer’s decisions and actions have played prominently both times. It’s a pattern now.
There’s no disputing that.
This story was originally published March 23, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
