Tim Barribeau
Last July, Seattle journalist
Dominic Holden took photographs of a group of police officers around a man. For
his trouble, King County Sheriff's Office sergeant Patrick "K.C."
Saulet demanded him to leave, and threatened to arrest him, even though Holden
was fully within his right to be there, and recording. Now, some six months
later, deputy Saulet has been fired for his actions, which appear to be the latest
in a long line of confrontations with the public.
According to Holden's version
of events, Saulet told Holden that it was illegal to take photographs where he
was, and threatened to arrest him if he didn't leave the block. Saulet, on the
other hand, argued that he had a " civil, professional" interaction
with Holden, informing him that he couldn't ride his bike on Metro property.
Now, after an extensive
investigation, the Sherrif has dismissed Saulet, and issued a damning letter.
Saulet is cited to have abused his authority, "expressly and/or implicitly
threatened to arrest him", and saying "Your ill-advised actions also
play to some of the most basic fears among some citizens, which is that a
police officer may indiscriminately exercise his or her power in violation of
their rights."
Saulet allegedly has a long
history of negative interactions with the public, with 120 allegations of
misconduct, 21 of which were upheld. He had previously been demoted from
sergeant to deputy over his actions, and had undergone extensive training to
improve his conduct.
You can see more of Holden's
interactions with the police in the video the Stranger released below.
