Cop on the run

Two memorable video images linger from the World Trade Organization demonstrations: King County Sheriff Dave Reichert animatedly waving his arms, chasing after amused looters fleeing from the downtown Seattle Radio Shack store; and a King County Sheriff's officer in riot gear ordering an unwitting young woman to roll down her car window, then showering her and a passenger with pepper spray.

For the emotions-on-his-sleeve, silver-maned Reichert, 49, the WTO foot chase and his public criticisms of Seattle Mayor Paul Schell have boosted his already dashing image (he personally collared at least three other lawbreakers in the past two years.)

But for his department, the deputy who seemingly went out of the way to assault WTO bystanders raises new concerns about misconduct under the watch of a professed by-the-book sheriff, who, depending on the beholder, is either a sincere if slightly naﶥ lawman or a wily political opportunist.

"He's an interesting mix," says a county official close to the sheriff's operations, who did not wish to be named. "To those who know him, he's a real stand-up guy. On the other hand, he sometimes goes for the headline without thinking things through."

The headlines have been good for him lately—amid the stench of WTO, he came out smelling of roses. The current love-in reached its ludicrous zenith last week when Mike Patrick, executive director of the Washington Council of Police and Sheriffs—and onetime candidate for Reichert's job—and Bill Hanson, president of the Washington State Troopers Association, called for the resignation of Paul Schell, arguing, among other reasons, that he was no Dave Reichert.

"Where Mayor Schell was timid, Sheriff Reichert was strong," they wrote in a Seattle Times op-ed piece, comparing the WTO strategies of the two. "Where Mayor Schell was uncertain, Sheriff Reichert was decisive. Where Mayor Schell instilled fear, Sheriff Reichert inspired hope."

They weren't "advocating Sheriff Reichert take over City Hall," they said. Just nominating him for sainthood, perhaps.

Reichert's take? He's simply the people's sheriff, elected by a landslide two years ago. "I answer to the citizens of King County," he noted last week.

The swift post-WTO groundswell for Sheriff Dave has no deeper significance, he indicates, than an expression of support for his actions. This is a posture he's so far maintained around his office, observers say, keeping it a mostly politics-free zone.

The politicking of sheriffs past is what persuaded the county council to keep the job an appointed position in the three decades prior to Reichert's election. Some observers see his appearance on the WTO stage, and now his rising star, as a step back in time—to those memorable days when the sheriff and prosecutor called press conferences, appearing with the latest crime suspect sandwiched between them, who readily confessed that yes, he killed all those people, but he's right sorry about it.

Reichert asserts his office is impartial and independent from all, including the man who first named him interim sheriff in 1997, County Executive Ron Sims. "I am a separately elected official, as well as a professional, 28-year police veteran," he told the Weekly. "I did not consult with Ron Sims about what my deputies should do or should not do [during WTO]."

Reichert's status has become near-celebrity to law-and-order types in wake of his mayoral critiques and the seemingly flawless performance of his anti-riot troops—who, he notes with some apparent irritation, had once been relegated to the WTO bench.

"We had no plan for controlling demonstrations within the City of Seattle, since we not only didn't expect to be deployed there, we had no police responsibility there either," he says. "Our role always was one of back-up. . . . SPD said they would call us if we were needed. However," he adds, "their feeling all along was that we would not be needed, and they communicated this to us several times" (before indeed having to call in sheriff's officers to bolster the front line).

Reichert's department insists the window-knocking pepper spray complaint is its only formal case of WTO misconduct, suggesting most of the several hundred county officers performed dutifully in the face of the protesters—who sometimes baited and spat upon them and threw objects. (A separate county department, Corrections, faces many claims of jail brutality.)

But who busted all those heads? Just the hoards of Seattle officers and their suburban backups? Can the sheriff know there aren't other offenders—dozens, even—from his ranks? Demonstrators say it was virtually impossible to identify any officer who allegedly assaulted them—a fact borne out by the sheriff's own inability to locate the videotaped pepper sprayer until he came forward after two weeks.

"I think it's a little too early," says a City Hall official, "to be handing out WTO humanitarian awards across the street."

Reichert says he'll wait until WTO reviews are in. But he's made his feelings clear on whom to blame for that big mess downtown, rapping the mayor's stand- back plan that allowed rioters to destroy businesses to the tune of $3 million. During Paul Schell's subsequent private blow-up with Reichert—reportedly calling him a lunatic whose career he would destroy—the mayor claimed the sheriff staged the Film At Eleven foot chase (which the onetime prep football quarterback gave up shortly, stomping on the sidewalk like a man trying to scatter birds). The sheriff says his plan was merely "to scare" the looters and not perform for the nearby TV camera that caught his act.