SEATTLE — Pierce County prosecutors are considering whether to charge one of the Seattle Police Department’s top commanders with a crime.
The KING 5 Investigators have also learned Deputy Chief Eric Barden is under investigation for reportedly asking another officer to lie on a police report.
The criminal case against Barden stems from a 2023 complaint accusing him of domestic violence.
The Pierce County Sheriff’s Department just referred the domestic abuse case against Barden to the prosecutor’s office for a charging decision. The incident in the case allegedly happened over a year ago, but few other details are known.
Barden is facing another serious accusation of alleged misconduct, Pierce County records obtained by KING 5 show. In June, the prosecutor’s office wrote that Barden “asked a Pierce County deputy to include false information in a police report” connected to a separate domestic violence incident in 2023. In that incident, Barden was the alleged victim.
Records show the deputy refused, saying “he will not be breaking the law by putting false information in his report.”
On June 7, Pierce County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Coreen Schnepf wrote to Seattle Police internal affairs officials to alert them that the case questioning Barden’s “credibility” should have been flagged and investigated in 2023, but a deputy prosecutor new to the office failed to bring it to his supervisor’s attention.
Despite being under investigation inside and outside of his department, Barden is still on the job.
“You know my hope would be that they would no longer be working in positions of power and that is what’s really concerning,” said state Sen. Manka Dinghra.
She has years of experience as a King County prosecutor specializing in sexual assault and gender-based crimes.
Dinghra said she thought it would better for the culture of SPD if Barden and Assistant Chief Tyrone Davis, both accused of crimes against women, had been placed on leave.
“Until we start doing that, we are not believing survivors,” she said.
In June, the KING 5 Investigators reported that Barden and Asst. Chief Tyrone Davis were both under criminal investigations for crimes against women. Davis for allegations of sexual assault and Barden for the domestic abuse complaint.
Former Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz placed Davis on administrative leave in June, but it only lasted a week. Interim Chief Sue Rahr brought Davis back on her first day on the job. Multiple policing policy experts told KING 5 that is not best practice.
Rahr defended her actions.
“I brought Tyrone Davis back because when I reviewed the judgement available to me, it was my judgement that he did not need to be on administrative leave for the investigation to move forward. There was no indication he would interfere with the investigation, there was no information that he would cause any kind of disruption in the workplace so I didn’t see a compelling reason to keep him on administrative leave,” said Rahr, in a previous statement to KING 5.
Barden is already facing a consequence for allegedly pressuring an officer to lie on a police report. Pierce County records show that two weeks ago the prosecutor’s office put him on what’s known as the “potential impeachment list” or Brady list. That’s a list of law enforcement officers who are considered untrustworthy and may not be a credible witness in court.
Pierce County alerted Rahr about Barden’s status on June 11. On Wednesday, she told KING 5 in a written statement that “the investigation is ongoing and we need to let it run its natural course.”
They have also asked SPD to conduct an internal investigation into the allegations that Barden pressured an officer to lie. Once that is complete, Pierce County will decide whether Barden will stay on or come off the potential impeachment list.
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