Facing charges, Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer uses dog whistles to play the victim
Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer would have us believe he’s the victim. Listen to him tell it, and the ethical and legal saga that has followed his fateful Jan. 27 encounter with newspaper delivery person Sedrick Altheimer starts to sound like a woke anarchist plot to cancel him and every other red-blooded cop on the street. It’s like Seattle’s CHOP zone all over again, he suggests. Time for the good guys to stand up and fight.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Don’t buy it. Not for a minute.
This is a complicated story about a lot of things — right and wrong, actions and consequences, race, and the high standard we have every right to hold elected law enforcement officers to.
What it’s not is a hit job. Troyer brought all of this on himself.
On Tuesday, as readers of The News Tribune, The New York Times and the Washington Post know by now, Troyer was charged with one count of false reporting and one count of making a false statement to a civil servant. Filed by Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who was put on the case by Gov. Jay Inslee, what happens next for Pierce County’s embattled sheriff is both predictable and unknown. Legal proceedings will follow, but their outcome — and the ultimate trajectory of Troyer’s tenure — is yet to be decided. The Seattle Times Editorial Board and other invested groups have already called for his resignation. While that’s not in Troyer’s DNA, like the “Resign, Ed” signs that have become a fixture in Tacoma, it’s not hard to understand why so many have justifiably lost trust.
Unfortunately, at the root of the case rests a question that might never have a satisfactory answer: whether or not Troyer, who is white, believed that Altheimer, who is Black, threatened his life when he told 911 dispatchers as much (and whether Troyer corrected himself when officers arrived). We know what Altheimer says, what the police report indicates and what the unused body cam reveals — nothing. We also know what Troyer has claimed in the months since, despite evidence to the contrary. As much as we crave immediacy and closure, the slow wheels of justice will take it from here.
Left with little influence on what will transpire in front of a judge — beyond the rights afforded to him as a defendant — it was no surprise to see Troyer go on the attack this week, taking his attempts to control the narrative to the court of divided public opinion. In the Trump era, deflections and dog whistles have become standard operating procedure, and Troyer was quick to trot out every trick in the book.
In a statement released to the media in response to the charges, Troyer described Ferguson’s decision as “politically motivated” and “anti-cop.” He then went on to claim — rather ridiculously — that the state Attorney General’s ultimate goal is to “defund the police.”
“Ferguson is an anti-law and order and anti-cop politician trying to score points for political gain,” Troyer said. “This attorney general has taken it upon himself to attack cops because it will get him headlines and further his anti-cop agenda.”
“I’m built for this challenge, and will fight it until the end,” the statement added.
I’m going to stop Troyer there, before he takes off his shirt, jumps from the top turnbuckle or wraps himself in the Blue Lives Matter flag. While he has correctly assessed that he’s in a fight for his job and his reputation, his delusional depiction of the situation is transparently laughable. Pierce County Sheriff might be a nonpartisan position, but Troyer’s defense sounds like a conservative talk radio fever dream.
Let’s take Troyer’s contentions for what they’re worth, which — frankly — isn’t much.
Is Ferguson aiming to defund the police, or more specifically the Pierce County Sheriff’s department? Of course not. While Ferguson is a liberal darling — and his is the only party that seems to have any interest in overdue police reform that acknowledges the role of racism — even if Ferguson wanted to cut local police budgets he doesn’t have the power to do so (which really goes without saying). All Troyer is offering is noise and buzzwords to incite the Right. No one is defunding the police in Pierce County.
Then there’s the public perceptions at play, which Troyer also seems to have badly misjudged. Could holding Troyer to account be seen as a victory for Ferguson? Sure. Why? Because making sure cops — and particularly those in positions of power — follow the very same laws that the rest of us are beholden to is something that many Washington voters rightly support. Even if this was about politics, that wouldn’t make it wrong.
As I mentioned at the outset, what happens from here remains to be seen. As frustrating as it might be, short of an unexpected resignation all we can do is wait for the legal system to run its course while the Pierce County Council stands by, ready to wrap up its own independent investigation into Troyer’s early morning activities. The time it takes to get it right is well spent.
Until then, for Troyer, one thing remains certain, whether he’s capable of admitting it or not.
He’s not the victim here.
While Troyer is presumed innocent until proven guilty, just like everyone else charged with a crime, Pierce County’s elected sheriff is under fire as a result of one thing, and one thing only:
His own words and actions.
This story was originally published October 22, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
