Updated at 10:45 a.m.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – The new town marshal for Pe Ell was arrested overnight for driving drunk, in Pe Ell, in his patrol vehicle.
Marshal Anthony K. Corder’s blood alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit when he was processed at the Lewis County Jail, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.
He was booked into the facility this morning, Sheriff Steve Mansfield said.
“He was very polite, very cooperative, upset that he put us in the position to have to do this,” Sheriff Mansfield said. “He didn’t give us any problems.”
Corder was hired recently by the mayor of the small West Lewis County town.
The 27-year-old just out of the military had no prior law enforcement experience and has not yet attended the training academy but did have police powers already, according to the sheriff’s office.
It happened about 2 o’clock this morning.
He apparently was not on duty, as he was wearing civilian clothes, according to the sheriff’s office.
But he was driving a fully marked police car, equipped with all his various police gear, including his duty weapon which the sheriff’s office confiscated, Mansfield said.
It came about because deputies were dispatched about 1:08 a.m., advised there was a possibly suicidal subject and it could be the marshal who might be intoxicated, according to the sheriff’s office.
When he was contacted however, there were no indications of him being suicidal, only that he’d been drinking, according to Mansfield.
The sheriff had no further details about that aspect, suggesting its possible the caller said something that was not true.
Mansfield gave the following account: A responding deputy spotted a car driving around town with its headlights off and when it pulled in front of a house, its driver got out and went inside. The deputy asked dispatch to have the marshal call him and then come outside which he did, Mansfield said.
Corder’s blood alcohol level was measured at .186 and .184, according to Mansfield.
“It’s very concerning,” Mansfield said. “Number one, I hope this young man gets some help, but until he gets his life straightened out or something, he doesn’t need to be working law enforcement in Lewis County or anywhere else.”
Chief Criminal Deputy Gene Seiber said the arrest occurred at the 500 block of North Main Street and that Corder is a Pe Ell resident, but it’s not clear whose home he was at.
He is the town’s only law enforcement officer.
The sheriff’s office will respond to emergency calls in Pe Ell, as they do in all the small towns when no one else is available, and then send the town a bill, according to Mansfield.