Newly elected Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer, the person in charge of the whole department, felt it necessary to claim his own life was being threatened by a newspaper carrier. The Sheriff was sitting in his Chevy Tahoe having called 911, on a black guy, and claimed his life had been threatened. Remind me again who exactly the police protect and serve? The Sheriff stalked the black paper carrier in the early morning hours in his unmarked car and reportedly never identified himself as law enforcement. I will take it as a positive sign that the paper carrier Sedrick Altheimer, who is the victim in this case, was neither shot nor arrested. He was harassed and traumatized. How can Ed “There is nothing to do with him being Black” Troyer remain atop the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department? He lied to his colleagues and prompted more than 40 officiers to initiate a response.
Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer sparked a massive police response in late January after confronting a Black man driving near his home, telling a 911 dispatcher the man “threatened to kill me” — an allegation he retracted upon questioning by Tacoma police.
The man was a newspaper carrier on his regular route.
The 24-year-old carrier, Sedrick Altheimer, said the early morning encounter on Jan. 27 left him afraid for his life and angry at Troyer — who was driving an unmarked, personal SUV and didn’t identify himself as law enforcement.
Troyer’s call to a 911 dispatcher, which came in shortly after 2 a.m. on a Wednesday, spurred an urgent countywide alert that sent more than 40 officers from multiple agencies rushing toward the scene, public records show. Most were called off after Tacoma police arrived.
“All he had to do is calmly say, ‘Hey, I am delivering newspapers,’” Troyer said.
Of course he would have said exactly the same thing if Mr. Altheimer had been arrested or shot.
