Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A former Lewis County sheriff’s deputy has filed a claim against the county alleging wrongful termination, discrimination, fraud, perjury, abuse of power and corruption among other issues including negligence and malpractice by his lawyer.

Douglas D. Lackey was fired in July 2007.

It’s not clear how much he is asking for monetarily, because that and almost all the other spaces in the standard tort claim form he submitted were left blank. Instead, he attached a five-page memo that mentions whistle-blower violations, mental and economic duress and states that he has lost track of the amount of damages the sheriff’s office has caused him.

“What amazes me is how successful they’ve been with lying and manipulating the courts,” Lackey writes. “The sheriff’s office, in my opinion, stole $360,000 from the taxpayers to defend this matter, predicated from the start on deceit.”

Lackey, 46 years old with a Vancouver, Wash. address, states in his memo he possesses documents to prove his case, records he says his attorney never produced to refute claims by the sheriff’s office administration.

He contends the administration lied repeatedly during his unemployment appeal hearing, during mediation and during arbitration.

Lewis County RIsk Manager Paulette Young said she has 60 days to either accept, deny or ignore the claim.

It was filed Sept. 15 and has been forwarded to Washington Counties Risk Pool for review, Young said earlier this week.

In his memo, Lackey describes his diagnosis of post traumatic stress syndrome after he was involved in an officer-involved shooting in March 2003 and states the diagnosis was ignored his superiors.

Following a high speed chase from Salkum to Onalaska, when the driver backed out of a ditch toward Lackey in an attempt to hit him, Lackey fired at him, striking him once in the upper left arm. The man survived.

Lackey’s memo describes a former best friend and supervisor from another law enforcement agency as harassing him endlessly after the incident and repeatedly characterizing the two as both “Natural Born Killers” since they were among the few in law enforcement to ever shoot someone.

He said he told the man it was causing him further stress and difficulty in dealing with the effects of his shooting.

Lackey states he reported the unwanted harassment to his supervisor because he didn’t know what else to do and didn’t want to be branded a rat, but was only advised to talk with a fellow deputy who’d also shot someone on the job.

The other deputy said the suggestion was ludicrous and told him he should seek counseling, Lackey wrote.

Lackey’s memo tells of repetitive nightmares, migraines, inability to sleep, starting to drink heavily, and how his continued complaints about the harassment were ignored and undocumented by his superiors.

“My agency repeatedly ignored my cry for help in dealing with him,” Lackey wrote.

The former deputy wrote about falling behind in his caseload, and of feeling haunted by a case involving torture and murder of two little boys, which he was pulled off of.

A document included with Lackey’s memo indicates the grounds for his termination were untruthfulness, though it doesn’t offer any detail.

Lackey appealed his firing to the Lewis County Civil Service Commission, a case that ended with an undisclosed agreement between the two sides in 2008.

In the spring of 2008, detectives with the Shelton Police Department reviewed Lackey’s files at the sheriff’s office before he was hired at a new job with them. But then after then-Prosecutor Michael Golden forwarded a Brady letter to the Mason County Prosecutor’s Office, Lackey was terminated from the new job.

The following year he filed a lawsuit in Thurston County Superior Court alleging the sheriff’s office breached its 2008 agreement with him.

Lackey indicates he believed the sheriff’s office agreed to delete any references of his untruthfulness from his personnel records, but in 2011, an arbitrator sided with the sheriff’s office, stating they only agreed to leave it out of his termination letter.

Lackey’s complaints about his private attorney aren’t anything the county is responsible for, according to Young. And the rest, Young suspects won’t see any action from her office.

The 60-day deadline will likely pass without the county neither accepting or denying Lackey’s claim, she said.

“We believe he’s already argued the claim in binding arbitration,” Young said.

Updated at 5:26 p.m.

ELDERLY MAN SCAMMED

• Centralia police were called to Rite Aid yesterday morning where an 84-year-old man had said he was sending money to someone so he could collect his winnings in the Oregon lottery. Officer Patty Finch said the Centralia resident was out $3,000. The case is under investigation, according to the Centralia Police Department.

MAD AT POLICE

• A 54-year-old Rochester man was arrested during the lunch hour yesterday after he was detained for reportedly throwing fruit and vegetables at the windows of Centralia City Hall on West Maple Street. Officer Patty Finch said she understood he had a box of tomatoes, eggs and flowers. Roy A. Dever was booked into the Lewis County Jail for third-degree malicious mischief, according to police. Finch said he didn’t ‘t give an explanation, but said he hated police because they are killers and rapists.

THEFT

• Centralia police took a report of a burglary at the 1300 block of Crescent Street yesterday in which a laptop computer and a tablet were taken. The case is under investigation, according to the Centralia Police Department.

• A tablet was reported stolen yesterday from the 1200 block of Harrison Avenue in Centralia.

DRUGS

• A 24-year-old Centralia resident was arrested for a warrant and possession of heroin after contact with an officer just after 2 o’clock this morning at Tower Avenue and Main Street in Centralia. Ryan L. Knutz was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to the Centralia Police Department.

LOST AND FOUND

• If the person who lost a decent amount of cash in Chehalis can tell police the specific amount and where they lost it, they can get it back. A woman found the money on the ground in the street and brought it to the Chehalis Police Department yesterday.

CLOSE CALL

• Firefighters were called about 7:30 p.m. yesterday to an apartment complex on the 300 block of Southwest Third Street in Chehalis where folks could smell something burning in a unit where nobody answered the door. They forced the door open and found what had been a pot of corn on the cob boiling on the stove, according to Chehalis Fire Department. Nobody was home and it was very nearly turned to popcorn, Capt. Ted McCarty said. Firefighters removed the scorched pot from the stove and opened the windows, McCarty said.

TRUCK VERSUS OVERHEAD WIRES

• Northwest Chehalis Avenue was shut down for about an hour yesterday afternoon when a truck snagged a wire, snapping off the top of a utility pole. Wires were pulled down and hanging dangerously low to the street, according to the Chehalis Fire Department. Nobody was hurt.

VEHICLE VERSUS PEDESTRIAN

• A pedestrian in his 40s suffered minor injuries when he was struck by a van at Harrison and First Avenue in Centralia yesterday afternoon. It was a fairly low-speed incident, but the patient was transported to Providence Centralia Hospital, according to Riverside Fire Authority.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, trespassing, misdemeanor assault, driving under the influence, driving with suspended license; responses for alarms, misdemeanor  theft, suspicious circumstances, collision on city street, little dog with green coat on running through the streets … and more.

Updated at 3:21 p.m.

ARSON INVESTIGATION

• Centralia police are investigating an incident last night in which someone tried to start a fire in a downtown building containing numerous upstairs apartment. Officers called about 8 p.m. to the 300 block of North Tower Avenue learned a resident heard a smoke alarm going off but said at first she ignored it because it occurs frequently from people cooking, according to the Centralia Police Department. However, when she finally went into the hallway, she saw a smokey haze and discovered a piece of paper burning inside an open light switch box, Sgt. Carl Buster said. She removed it and put it out, Buster said.

MISSING MEDS

• Centralia police were called about 9:20 a.m. yesterday to a report of the theft of a black bag containing medications from the 200 block of Railroad Avenue.

CAR PROWL

• A backpack containing an HP laptop computer was reported stolen from a vehicle parked at the 1100 block of Woodland Avenue in Centralia yesterday. The victim reported about 10:15 a.m. a window had been smashed out in the vehicle.

VANDALISM

• A 45-year-old Centralia man who left to cool off following a dispute yesterday reportedly then punched a dent into the side of a new truck at Main and Iron streets in Centralia yesterday morning. James C. Weatherford was cited for third-degree malicious mischief and then released, according to the Centralia Police Department. The damage is estimated at $500, police say.

UNRULY PATIENT

• A 48-year-old patient was arrested last night for two counts of third-degree assault after he allegedly took swings at medics who tried to prevent him from getting out of a moving ambulance. Darren L. Fullerton was intoxicated and began unstrapping himself, saying he had to urinate as the vehicle was northbound on Interstate 5 near Mellen Street, according to the Centralia Police Department. They pulled over and officers responded to the approximately 11:40 p.m. call, according to police. He was being taken to Providence Centralia Hospital after he was found sleeping on the ground at the entrance to the Airport Depot in Chehalis, police said. Fullerton was booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to Centralia police.

MORE SEX CRIME ALLEGATIONS

• The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reports the 22-year-old man arrested on Tuesday for an alleged sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl is now facing potential charges involving a second 15-year-old. Michael A. Ryan Jr. was booked into jail for three counts of third-degree rape of a child for instances occurring between August and December of last year, the sheriff’s office reported yesterday. This morning, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said detectives are referring information on the new case to prosecutors for evaluation of charges of two more counts of the same offense, occurring between August and October. The second girl also considered it a dating relationship, Brown said.

AND MORE

• And as usual, other incidents such as arrests for warrants, obstructing, misdemeanor assault; responses for alarm, shoplifting, suspicious circumstances, report of child molestation that turned out to be unfounded … and more.