King County Sheriff fires deputy who threatened reporter

The King County Sheriff has fired a deputy who threatened to arrest a reporter who took his picture during an incident last year.

Sheriff John Urquhart fired Deputy “K.C.” Patrick Saulet for dishonesty and abuse of authority, according to a termination letter dated January 30 obtained by KING 5.

The incident happened July 30, 2013, as Stranger editor Dominic Holden spotted a group of law enforcement officers surrounding and speaking loudly to a young black man as he rode past the International District transit station.

When Holden used his smartphone to photograph the scene, Saulet and Seattle Police Officer John Marion harassed him and threatened to arrest him if he didn’t leave the scene.

Saulet reportedly told Holden he was on private transit station property, while Marion said he would come to Holden’s workplace and hassle him.

Holden filed a complaint against both officers. Marion was recently punished with one day off work without pay. Saulet was fired effective Monday.

In the termination letter to Saulet, Urquhart wrote, “you abused your authority in your dealings with Mr. Holden on July 30 … and rather than be accountable, you attempted to recast events in a light more favorable to you.”

The letter said Saulet claimed he’d interacted with Holden in a “civil, professional manner,” but the “evidence is you approached Mr. Holden because you took exception to him lawfully exercising his right to take photographs of you and your colleagues while lawfully standing on public property; you were agitated and confrontational; you essentially squared off with him.”

Urquhart pointed out Saulet has been the subject of a number of complaints, facing approximately 120 allegations of misconduct, with 21 of them sustained violations.

“You have been repeatedly told you need to improve your interaction with people, coached, counseled on methods for doing so, and warned of the potential consequences of further problems,” Urquhart wrote.

According to the letter, Saulet had been put on three performance improvement plans in the past, was given external training and counseling, and had sessions with a Social Psychologist, but failed to improve his interactions with the public.

The Sheriff called Saulet’s actions in the encounter with Holden to be part of a “larger pattern of unacceptable behavior.”

Urquhart said Saulet’s behavior played into some of the “most basic fears among some citizens” about the abuse of police powers.

“I have little confidence in your ability to effectively exercise this considerable responsibility,” he wrote.

Efforts to reach Saulet were unsuccessful Monday.