Washington State Attorney General Targets County Sheriff

Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer says he has “never had a sustained or founded complaint in 37 years.” He also told The Seattle Times he’s “never had a complaint of racial bias, use of force or sexual discrimination even filed.” So, the state bothering to charge him with misdemeanors seems ridiculous, but Troyer says it was not unexpected.

Sheriff Troyer began with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office as a deputy, a detective, and served as a long-time public information officer before being elected sheriff in 2020. Earlier this year, Sheriff Troyer made headlines following an incident that leftist activists exploited.

At about 2 am, in March 2020, Troyer heard a car driving slowly on his street. There had been an increase in property crimes reported in his Tacoma neighborhood. He said the vehicle had no headlights on. The car had also stopped at several of his neighbors’ houses.

Troyer got in his car to investigate.

Troyer said while he was driving, the other driver, a man later identified as Sedrick Altheimer, blocked him with his car and threatened to kill him. The other driver was delivering newspapers.

If the man had just told him what he was doing, Troyer said the incident would have ended. The biased reporting in local media began, spurred on because Altheimer happened to be black.

The Pierce County Council initiated an investigation even though it does not oversee the sheriff, which is an elected position. Troyer said he supports that investigation.

In an unusual move, according to KTTH Radio host Jason Rantz, “Gov. Jay Inslee granted state Attorney General Bob Ferguson concurrent jurisdiction to investigate.” This effectively politicized the investigation, as Inslee and Ferguson are well-known for their radical, partisan politics.

AG Ferguson filed two misdemeanor charges for false reporting and making false statements to a civil servant. It appears the AG does not want to believe the sheriff, so he’s treating his account as fraudulent.

This is the same AG critics say won’t speak against defunding police or leftwing activists that caused such destruction and violence in Olympia and Seattle. Rantz expressed he believes this is a part of the wider state and national attack on law enforcement.

Rantz interviewed Mary Robnett, the Pierce County Prosecutor. Robnett “called the move ‘unusual.’” She told him the AG’s office had phoned her some three times, requesting case updates. Adding to the oddity, “Tacoma Police never referred the matter to Robnett.” Troyer lives within Tacoma city limits.

Adding to the suspicion that the prosecution is politically motivated, Robnett said during her three years as county prosecutor, “she never received this kind of interest in a case from an attorney general.”

During an interview, Troyer told Rantz he doesn’t believe any state attorney general has ever brought misdemeanor charges against any law enforcement officer.

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