An independent investigation recently cleared the Pullman Police Department union president of witness tampering following a suspicious exchange with the detective handling last year’s sexual misconduct case against a Pullman sergeant.
In May of 2018, the Washington State Patrol detective investigating the allegations of custodial sexual misconduct against former Pullman Police Sgt. Dan Hargraves scheduled interviews at the Pullman station with the other officers working on the night in question.
After the detective introduced himself, Pullman Police guild president Scott Patrick reportedly informed the detective he was “not going to get anything out of these guys.”
State Patrol Det. Larry McGill recorded the exchange in investigative records obtained by Whitman County Watch, writing that he asked Patrick why he would not get anything out of questioning the officers.
“Because they do not remember anything,” Patrick reportedly said.
“You do not even know what questions I am going to ask,” McGill responded.
“You’re right, I don’t know,” Patrick reportedly answered, “but you’re still not going to get anything.”
Patrick, who also serves as the resource officer for Pullman Public Schools, did not respond to a request for comment.
McGill later reported the discussion to the Pullman department and Police Chief Gary Jenkins initiated a third-party investigation in November. The Spokane Police Department agreed to take the case to avoid the appearance of impropriety or bias.
“The way it was relayed,” Jenkins said later, “made it sound to me like there was a potential that there might have been some inappropriate direction given (by Patrick to the officers).”
A Spokane Police detective contacted McGill and the four Pullman officers involved in the May interviews. The Spokane investigator noted McGill found Patrick’s comments “strange,” which sparked his concerns of potential witness tampering.
“At the time, McGill didn’t know if Patrick had previously spoken with the officers,” the Spokane report states, “and (whether) these conversations somehow affected the officers’ statements or if the officers had just told Patrick that they didn’t remember any of the events that occurred …”
McGill told the investigator he otherwise had no reason to believe any of the Pullman officers lied or omitted information during questioning.
When the Spokane investigator spoke with the Pullman officers, they all indicated that Patrick had met with them prior to the May interviews to remind them of their standard rights and obligations.
“Patrick told me to tell the truth and to answer the questions,” one officer told the Spokane investigator. “Patrick said not to answer questions that I didn’t know the answer to.”
None of the officers indicated Patrick had encouraged him to lie or withhold any relevant information, the Spokane report states. The detective filed his report Nov. 30, concluding he found no evidence of witness tampering or other interference.
The Pullman department closed the investigation in December, categorizing the allegations as unfounded.
“It was basically a miscommunication,” Jenkins said. “I think Scott Patrick, in his role as guild president, was trying to relay that he had talked to our staff and felt that they didn’t know anything.”
Jenkins acknowledged common assumptions that police officers cover up wrongdoing by other officers, but he argued his department’s credibility relies on thoroughly and impartially investigating any alleged misconduct. He believes Patrick misspoke in this case.
“It was probably more a poor choice of words,” Jenkins said. “When I saw the statement, I had concerns about it too. So I think it was probably just a poor choice of words on his part.”