KING 5 has received bodycam footage of the Jan. 27 incident when Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer told a 911 dispatcher that a newspaper carrier had threatened to kill him.
Troyer has come under fire for the call, leading to activists calling for his removal. The Pierce County Council has now called for an independent investigation into the incident and the course of events that took place that night.
The video footage comes from the body cameras of Tacoma Police officers who responded to the call. It records their interaction with Sedrick Altheimer, the Black newspaper carrier who Troyer accused of threatening to kill him, but it does not record any interactions with Troyer.
As reported in The Seattle Times, Troyer called 911 dispatchers on an internal line and told the dispatcher a man parked in front of his house “threatened to kill him,” which was a statement he later retracted when speaking with the Tacoma Police Department.
The call led to more than 40 officers from multiple agencies rushing toward the scene.
In the video, Altheimer tells officers that he walked up to Troyer's unmarked car after Troyer had followed him on his route for several blocks.
The Pierce County Council will hold a meeting Tuesday afternoon, where they’ll vote on moving forward on hiring former U.S. Attorney Brian Moran to conduct the independent investigation.
If brought on, Moran will be tasked with determining the facts of what occurred that night, along with looking into whether Troyer misused his authority, deviated from standard or required law enforcement standards, or violated any Sheriff’s Office policies, regulations or criminal law.
Moran will also investigate if Troyer has misused his authority in the past while he served as deputy and public statements made over the death of Manuel Ellis.
The city of Tacoma and the Tacoma Police Department have also issued statements earlier supporting the independent investigation. Troyer also said earlier that he supports the independent investigation and that he will cooperate.
