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TPD officer testifies that Troyer reported no death threat to him. Next, defense’s turn

Recently-promoted Tacoma police detective Chad Lawless testified in the trial of Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer on Wednesday that he saw much of this coming: an unprecedented case, tremendous media attention and intense scrutiny of his work.

Lawless is the officer who wrote the Tacoma police report stating Troyer told investigators his life was not threatened, effectively walking back his allegation that spurred a countywide distress call on Jan. 27, 2021. It was a report he was hoping a supervisor would write due to the sheriff’s involvement, heightening the profile of the incident.

“I’ll have to testify to what my report said,” Lawless wrote in a group chat last year with several Tacoma officers, the records of which were subpoenaed by defense attorneys and discussed in court.

The thread included three officers who also responded to Troyer’s call on a direct line to dispatchers concerning a suspicious driver, who turned out to be his northwest Tacoma neighborhood’s newspaper carrier, Sedrick Altheimer.

Before the sheriff was charged, Altheimer, a 26-year-old Black man, alleged Troyer racially profiled him in news interviews and a $5 million tort claim.

Generally a forum for venting their stresses, Lawless texted his patrol squad that he didn’t want to be “famous” and disparaged Troyer out of frustration in the group thread, according to his testimony. Lawless said on the stand that his lawyer also advised him in earlier proceedings to invoke his right against self-incrimination to attorneys’ questions out of fear his answers could open him up to criminal liability.

Prior to his trial beginning on Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2022, Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer talks to a court observer sitting in the front row in Pierce County District Court in Tacoma, Wash.
Prior to his trial beginning on Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2022, Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer talks to a court observer sitting in the front row in Pierce County District Court in Tacoma, Wash.

Nevertheless, Lawless took the stand against Pierce County’s top cop Wednesday, punctuating the state Attorney General’s Office’s case against Troyer with testimony about his response to help the sheriff.

Lawless told his own attorney that he didn’t want to plead the Fifth Amendment on the stand, according to his testimony. Judges had previously ruled that Lawless has no real risk of prosecution when he invoked his constitutional right.

“I felt like the facts of this case need to come out, and I didn’t want to look like I was hiding anything from the court or the jury,” Lawless said from the stand.

At the scene, Lawless determined the Priority 0 response, which records show dispatched 40-plus officers to the scene, was overboard. He testified he radioed, “We don’t need the whole world here,” leading dispatchers to downgrade the incident.

Once Lawless decided his partner, Corey Ventura, could talk to Altheimer by himself, Lawless testified that he walked toward the sheriff. On his way, he said officer Zachary Hobbs told him, “You need to talk to this guy.”

To start, Troyer explained why he started following Altheimer’s car, and then Lawless asked if he was threatened, according to his Wednesday testimony. “He said, ‘no,’” prompting Lawless to ask if there was a threat or a weapon shown. “And again he said, ‘No.’” Troyer also shook his head, he testified.

The sheriff responded, “It was clear that he wanted to fight,” Lawless said.

The state rested its case after Lawless stepped down from the stand, handing the floor to Troyer’s defense team to present evidence and call witnesses of their own.

Defense attorneys called one of Troyer’s neighbors for brief testimony about the character of their neighborhood and GoFundMe fliers she found in two copies of The News Tribune, for which Altheimer was her carrier. Altheimer testified a stranger started the GoFundMe to get him money for a new car and he threw away the fliers.

Testimony from Troyer’s wife, Wendy Kaleiwahea-Troyer, was cut short at the end of the day as she was answering questions about her family. She grew emotional as she was being sworn in and cried again while discussing the protests that occurred outside her house after the incident with Altheimer became public.

Kaleiwahea-Troyer will resume her testimony in the case on Thursday morning.

“Just tired of it all,” she said in her first remarks. “I want it to be over.”

Wendy Kaleiwahea-Troyer, the wife of Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer, initially becomes emotional on the witness stand when questioned by defense attorney Anne Bremner on Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2022, in Pierce County District Court in Tacoma, Wash. Her testimony will continue on Thursday morning.
Wendy Kaleiwahea-Troyer, the wife of Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer, initially becomes emotional on the witness stand when questioned by defense attorney Anne Bremner on Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2022, in Pierce County District Court in Tacoma, Wash. Her testimony will continue on Thursday morning.

Lead officer testifies about Tacoma police response

Wednesday’s proceedings began with argument over whether defense attorneys could question Lawless on the stand about invalidly asserting his Fifth Amendment right during his deposition in October.

Prosecutors from the state Attorney General’s Office expressed concern about that testimony painting Lawless as hiding information when he was following the advice of his lawyer. Defense attorneys countered that Troyer’s right to cross-examine witnesses, especially those who are material to the case, about their credibility outweighs that concern. They alleged Lawless was biased toward Troyer and more willing to cooperate with prosecutors.

Visiting Kitsap County Judge Jeffrey Jahns said prosecutors had the option of not calling Lawless or recalling other officers to testify about how they also invoked the Fifth Amendment.

“This is the collateral sideshow mini-trial that the state is trying to avoid,” said assistant attorney general Melanie Tratnik.

Jahns erred on the side of Troyer’s fair trial rights and ruled in favor of the defense.

The state still called Lawless, who testified that he was following his attorney’s advice and denied any bias against Troyer.

“I didn’t want it to look like that I was not being forthright,” Lawless said.

Prior to Troyer’s threat report last year, Lawless testified that a sergeant had advised him there was a newspaper carrier who delivered to the north side of Tacoma late at night and he might be reported as a drunk or suspicious driver.

He testified that he had mistakenly stopped newspaper carriers himself before.

When he approached Altheimer’s car with his gun drawn in January 2021, like in prior instances mentioned in his deposition, he saw the back was full of newspapers. Lawless turned his attention toward interviewing Troyer within minutes.

Defense attorneys pressed Lawless on whether he and Troyer could have had a miscommunication about his threat report.

“I asked him a relatively specific question and he said no,” Lawless said. “He was very clear.”

Afterward, Lawless testified he told Troyer that it appeared Altheimer was a newspaper carrier, and Troyer replied, “If that’s the case, then just let him go.”

Back at the police station, Lawless testified that the other officer who spoke with Troyer at the scene, Hobbs, implied the sheriff didn’t give him any pertinent information and that he felt the call was “BS.”

Lawless also told attorneys during his deposition that another officer who testified, Aaron Baran, felt the confrontation between Troyer and Altheimer was “blown out of proportion.”

Within a few hours of Troyer’s call, Lawless testified, he returned to Troyer’s neighborhood with his partner, Ventura, after a supervisor asked them to look into the sheriff’s report that Altheimer had returned and thrown a newspaper. Lawless said he saw the newspaper in the driveway and didn’t investigate further. He said he was advised not to contact Troyer directly.

Lawless said he and a supervisor, who had also responded to Troyer’s first call, laughed about the sheriff’s request together.

“I thought it was a little bit ridiculous that the sheriff would again call and say this,” Lawless said. When a defense attorney asked if he understood why Troyer might be concerned, Lawless replied, “If he was concerned, he should have called 911 then.”