TACOMA — The newspaper carrier involved in a January 2021 confrontation with Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer testified Tuesday in the sheriff’s criminal trial on false-reporting charges, facing an aggressive cross-examination by Troyer’s lead defense attorney.
Sedrick Altheimer, 26, who was delivering newspapers on his regular route that night, recounted how he was followed by Troyer, who was driving his unmarked white SUV, leading to a 2 a.m. standoff in a quiet north Tacoma intersection.
Troyer called an emergency dispatcher, repeatedly claiming Altheimer was threatening to kill him, leading to a massive initial police response. According to Tacoma police, he walked back his threat claims upon questioning by a Tacoma police officer.
“I get held at gunpoint. I get questioned and pulled out of my vehicle. Frisked. Asked questions. Treated like a suspect,” Altheimer said as he took the stand Tuesday in Pierce County District Court, questioned by Assistant Attorney General Melanie Tratnik.
Troyer’s about-face regarding alleged threats by Altheimer, as outlined in a Tacoma police incident report, led the state Attorney General’s Office to charge the elected sheriff last October with misdemeanor crimes of false reporting and making an false or misleading statement to a public servant.
Troyer has called the prosecution a political witch hunt. He pleaded not guilty, and his defense attorneys have sought throughout the trial, which began last week, to raise doubts about the credibility of Altheimer and the Tacoma police account of that night.
Anne Bremner, Troyer’s lead defense attorney, in a cross-examination Tuesday, questioned Altheimer at length about the Jan. 27, 2021, encounter with Troyer, repeatedly noting that he was not arrested and referring to the incident as “a nonevent.”
She tried to get Altheimer to agree with her characterization. He did not.
“Something did happen. I almost lost my life. For a lie,” Altheimer said, referring to being ordered not to move and to show his hands by police officers who had guns drawn.
Bremner later clarified that her “nonevent” comments were referring to the interaction between Altheimer and Troyer before police showed up.
Altheimer, who is Black, said he believed he was racially profiled. But on questioning by Bremner, he acknowledged he did not know if Troyer knew his race when he began following him in his personal SUV that night.
Troyer has said he didn’t know Altheimer’s race and started following him because he saw what he believed to be a suspicious vehicle. Altheimer was driving a Geo Prizm sedan and pulling in and out of driveways on the delivery route he has worked for years.
Annoyed at being followed, Altheimer said he eventually approached Troyer’s SUV, asking him whether he was following him because he was Black and if he was a cop.
According to Altheimer, Troyer never identified himself as law enforcement, but questioned what he was doing and asking if he was a thief. “He accused me of being a porch pirate, and he just talked to me like I was a lost boy,” Altheimer said.
Altheimer’s testimony was broadly consistent with what he’s previously said about that night, including in an interview last year with The Seattle Times. He noted that he did not seek out media attention, but was willing to discuss the incident when a reporter reached out to him in March 2021.
Troyer, who sat at the defense table with Bremner and co-counsel Nick Gross, is expected to testify in his own defense during the trial.
Bremner raised Altheimer’s filing of a lawsuit against Pierce County, seeking $5 million in damages. However, Judge Jeffrey Jahns restricted the defense from delving into details of his claim, other than to note the amount of money he is seeking.
Bremner brought up Altheimer’s other encounters with people — both police and civilians — who have followed him or questioned what he was doing while delivering newspapers late at night.
Bremner also entered into evidence a copy of the News Tribune newspaper that Altheimer admits he tossed into Troyer’s driveway after the incident — a newspaper tossing that the defense has called “malicious.”
Altheimer said he did it because he is “kind of a smart A-S-S.”
The back-and-forth between Bremner and Altheimer was mostly civil, but they sometimes jabbed at one another over Bremner’s descriptions of his testimony.
“I’m just here for the truth,” Bremner said at one point after Altheimer corrected how she was portraying some of the events of that night.
“I am, too,” Altheimer replied.
After Altheimer’s testimony wrapped up, prosecutors called their final witness: Tacoma Police Officer Chad Lawless, who interviewed Troyer the night of the incident and wrote that the sheriff had said he was never threatened by Altheimer.
Troyer’s defense team is expected to call their witnesses after the prosecution rests its case.
