Pierce County sheriff investigates deputies who responded to major’s alleged DUI crash

Pierce County Sheriff Keith Swank said he has opened an internal investigation into the conduct of several of his deputies who were on the scene of a DUI crash involving a member of his command staff.

Pierce County Major Chad Dickerson was charged Wednesday with two counts of vehicular assault-DUI for the July crash where the Washington State Patrol (WSP) said Dickerson failed to yield the right-of-way and injured a family of six, including three children and a pregnant woman.

Pierce County deputies did not turn on bodycams, court documents indicate

Court documents indicate some of the deputies failed to activate or turned off their body-worn cameras while at the scene.

Swank said that should not have happened, and he will issue new information that all deputies should always activate their cameras when they are working a scene, no matter who is involved.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s the sheriff or the undersheriff, or the mayor, or the executive, or the governor, or the president, you’ll have your body camera on,” Swank said.

WSP handled the investigation, and Swank said he has intentionally stayed away from the case to avoid any perception of impropriety.

He said it wasn’t until he received the court charging documents Wednesday that he learned what had happened.

“As soon as I received this document and reviewed it, and the undersheriff reviewed it, and we opened an investigation into all the conduct of the deputies involved at the scene that day,” Swank said.

Swank didn’t say how long the investigation will take, or what, if any, disciplinary action might be taken.

Follow James Lynch on X. Read more of his stories here. Submit news tips here.

Follow @James_KIRORadio