A Washington state sheriff accused of tailing a Black man delivering newspapers is found not guilty

By Paradise Afshar, CNN

A sheriff in Washington state who was accused of tailing a Black man delivering newspapers and falsely accusing the man of threatening his life has been found not guilty on related charges.

Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer was charged with false reporting and making a false or misleading statement to a public servant after the incident last year.

Following a verbal exchange with the delivery driver, Sedrick Altheimer, at around 2 a.m. on January 27, 2021, Troyer called a 911 “officer line” and told the dispatcher that the driver “knows who I am and he threatened to kill me,” prompting more than 40 law enforcement officers to respond to the scene, according to the Washington State Attorney General’s Office. Troyer later told officers that the driver did not threaten him, according to charging documents.

A jury found Troyer not guilty on Wednesday, according to the attorney general’s office, which filed the charges against Troyer after the case was referred to them by Gov. Jay Inslee.

“Part of upholding the rule of law is respecting the decision of a jury,” state Attorney General Bob Ferguson said in a statement. “I appreciate the jury’s service and thank my team for their hard work.”

Troyer is “grateful” to the jury for the decision and the “just verdict,” Troyer’s attorney Anne Bremner told CNN.

“If the AG had made Sheriff Troyer part of the investigation instead of the target, we wouldn’t be here,” Bremner said. “Sheriff Troyer is very grateful to the jury for their hard work and for their just verdict,”

According to the attorney general’s office, Troyer had followed Altheimer during part of his route. The delivery driver eventually approached Troyer to ask why he was being followed, asking if Troyer was a police officer and if he was being followed “because I’m Black?” according to a probable cause declaration filed by the attorney general’s office last year.

During the exchange, Troyer did not identify himself as law enforcement and continued to follow Altheimer in his car after he drove away, according to the attorney general’s office.

Eventually, the newspaper carrier stopped his car and Troyer called the 911 dispatcher, summoning dozens of responding officers to the scene, the attorney general’s office said Wednesday.

“According to charging documents, despite his statement to dispatchers, officers on scene reported that Troyer later told them the carrier did not threaten him,” the office said in a release.

Altheimer was released to finish his route about a half hour after officers arrived, the release said.

CNN has reached out to attorneys for Altheimer for further comment.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

CNN’s Melissa Alonso and Jennifer Henderson contributed to this report.