(The Center Square) – A lawsuit has been filed in Walla Walla County Superior Court seeking an unspecified amount of damages from Benton County for failure to protect deputies from their alleged “tormentor,” former sheriff Jerry Hatcher.
Seven current and former command staff under Hatcher announced a tort claim lawsuit for $22 million in May 2021 but paused that action after the sheriff became the subject of a recall election. Once Hatcher, 59, was ousted from office last August, the legal case resumed and was filed last week.
Deputies claim the former sheriff violated their First Amendment Rights. They also accuse Hatcher of intimidating witnesses and public servants in investigations, tampering with physical evidence, retaliation and violating his oath of office.
The law enforcement officials allege that county leaders did not do enough to protect them after they filed whistleblower complaints against their boss.
All but one of the original tort claim filers is a party to the current suit. The other, Tom Croskrey, has been appointed sheriff.
The plaintiffs in the case are represented by attorney Ronald Leighton of Tacoma, who is a retired federal judge. He is representing Undersheriff Jon Law; Commander Mat Clarke; Lt. Jason Erickson; Lt. Erik Magnuson; now-retired Commander Steve Caughey; and former Detective Todd Carlson.
The lawsuit states Carlson retired early in March 2021 due to retaliation from Hatcher.
A petition to recall Hatcher was brought last summer by Erickson and supported by the Benton County Sheriff’s Guild and Washington Fraternal Order of Police. More than 28,000 votes were cast in the Aug. 3, 2021, recall election, with over 75% of ballots marked in favor of the measure.
The Benton County Board of Commissioners published a letter in support of the recall last June. The elected officials also unanimously voted in August 2020 to not use county funds to help with Hatcher’s legal defense against the recall.
After the recall petition was filed, Hatcher said the Guild was refusing to hold deputies accountable. He said the guild would not let him take disciplinary action against employees who committed wrongdoing.
Commissioner Jerome Delvin told media outlets last year that, although he and the other commissioners did what they could to support recall efforts and the deputies, the tort claim came as no surprise.
“I think we tried to help the deputies as much as we are legally possible (able to), I mean we are limited, it’s another elected (official) and the law doesn’t allow us to do a lot with other elected (officials)… hardly anything actually. So yeah, it’s been very frustrating,” he said in a statement.
