At trial, police say Sheriff Ed Troyer summoned them, again, that same night

Testimony in the trial of Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer sometimes veered into the absurd Thursday, as police witnesses described investigating the possible “malicious” throwing of a newspaper, and another officer admitted to having called the sheriff “a douchebag” for dragging them into a high-profile incident.

Jurors in Pierce County District Court heard from some of the police officers who investigated Troyer’s confrontation with a Black newspaper carrier, Sedrick Altheimer. They also heard from the 911 dispatcher who sent a high priority response to assist Troyer with what the sheriff claimed were threats to kill him.

Troyer is charged with two misdemeanors for false reporting and false statements about the encounter on January 27, 2021.

Former Tacoma police officer Corey Ventura described the loud alert that prompted him along with his partner Chad Lawless to speed with lights and sirens to the neighborhood where he saw Troyers’ SUV and Altheimer’s sedan parked facing one another. Ventura said he tried to de-escalate the situation by speaking with Altheimer, who complained that Troyer had been following him and accused him of being a thief.

Altheimer was frisked and detained briefly, but released when officers determined that no threat existed. Ventura also described being sent back to check on Troyer’s house two hours later. He said their supervisor told them the concern was that someone had maliciously thrown or launched a newspaper at Troyer’s house. Ventura said it was just a brief visit.

“We did not exit our patrol vehicles. From what I can remember I looked out, saw a newspaper in his driveway where I believe normal newspaper would be thrown or placed normally and we determined there wasn’t really anything else to investigate,” he said.

But Troyer’s defense attorney Anne Bremner said Troyer doesn’t subscribe to any of the newspapers that Altheimer delivers, and that there was more to the situation.

“Were you aware that Sheriff Troyer had called the supervisor not just saying that a newspaper had been thrown, but that within two hours of the incident we’ve been talking about, that Mr. Altheimer came in front of his house revving his engine and yelling at his house at 4 a.m. in the morning and then threw a newspaper at his house. Were you aware of that information?”

“I was not aware of that information that I can remember," Venture answered.

Bremner also said in court that Altheimer had been seen on Troyer’s property before that date, and that Troyer’s wife may be called as a witness to testify about that.

Prosecutor Melanie Tratnik with the state attorney general's office acknowledged in court that Altheimer did return to the sheriff's house that night. She said he may have said something like, "Here's your paper" before throwing a newspaper on Troyer’s driveway.

But Tratnik said she is not aware of Altheimer ever going to Troyer’s house or on his property before that date. Judge Jeffrey Jahns has asked the attorneys to submit filings by Monday as to whether any evidence about Altheimer’s alleged prior visits to Troyer’s property should be allowed.

Attorneys also questioned Conrad Shadel, the 911 dispatcher who answered Troyer’s phonecall that night. Jurors heard a recording of Troyer’s call, in which he repeatedly said Altheimer had threatened to kill him. Shadel said he was alarmed by the situation Troyer described, and assigned the highest possible urgency to the response.

But Troyer also said during the call that he wanted "one or two units" to help him deal with the situation with Altheimer, something Shadel did not mention in the call-out. He said he wanted to get help to Troyer as quickly as possible.

“It’s known among dispatchers that officers can downplay things at times and just ask for, ‘I just need a couple units to help,’ something like that, and I had to take him at his word that someone was threatening to kill him," Shadel said.

He said looking back, he believes that request for just one to two units would have been good information to include in his alerts.

Tacoma police officer Aaron Baran also testified Thursday. He also responded to scene that night. Defense attorney Nick Gross asked Baran about the content of a text thread they subpoenad between Baran and other officers after the encounter between Troyer and Altheimer. Gross asked Baran whether in that text thread he had called Troyer “a freaking douchebag.” Baran said yes, that the texts were jokes not meant to become public and that they reflected simply “a level of frustration with how high profile this incident is.”