One of the first officers to respond to the Pierce County Sheriff’s call for help after a threat last year says Sheriff Ed Troyer later denied he’d been threatened.
In Sheriff Troyer’s trial on charges of false reporting and false statements, Tacoma Police Officer, now-Detective Chad Lawless says Troyer told him newspaper carrier, Sedric Altheimer, did NOT threaten him, so Lawless told the jury he asked a “clarifying question”. “‘Did he threaten you, or did you see him armed with any weapons?’ and, again, [Troyer] said ‘no’,” Lawless testified, “but he also said it was clear that [Altheimer] wanted to fight.”
Troyer’s defense attorney, Nick Gross, asked Lawless about a text thread with other officers who responded to the call last January, which Lawless admitted he deleted. That text thread had been preserved by another officer and was introduced as evidence in the trial as part of the defense effort to paint a picture of Lawless’ bias against Troyer. Gross asked if it was true that, in that thread, Lawless called Troyer a “b****”, to which Lawless replied, “I referred to him as a b****, yes.”
This all came after the two sides started the day arguing over whether the jury could hear about Lawless’ use of the 5th amendment during pre-trial deposition, which the judge did allow despite prosecutors’ concern it would taint his testimony.
After Lawless’ testimony, the state rested its case and the defense began theirs with a neighbor of Troyer, who testified she found a flyer for Sedric Altheimer’s GoFundMe page in her newspaper. They then called Troyer’s wife, who was only asked about their family background before court recessed for the day. Mrs. Troyer is expected to return to the stand Thursday.
