BUSTED: Washington sheriff falsely claimed Black man threatened to kill him in late-night call for help

According to The Seattle Times, Sheriff Ed Troyer of Pierce County, Washington is facing calls to resign after he followed Sedrick Altheimer, a 24-year-old Black newspaper deliveryman, and falsely reported to police that he had threatened his life.

"Troyer had followed and confronted 24-year-old Sedrick Altheimer after spotting him going house to house on his delivery route," reported Jim Brunner and Lewis Kamb. "Troyer's 2 a.m. call to police dispatchers sparked a massive police response after he repeatedly claimed Altheimer was threatening to kill him — a claim Troyer retracted upon questioning by Tacoma police, according to an incident report."

Troyer later recanted his accusation under questioning from police — although according to the report, "the sheriff again claimed in a phone interview on Friday that the newspaper carrier did make threats to kill him."

"In 35 years, I have never had a complaint against me for racial bias," said Troyer in response to calls from the local Black Lives Matter chapter to step down. "What are we supposed to do as police? Not look at suspicious vehicles and not pull them over because a Black person might be inside?"