Troyer, who is white, said he did not racially profile Altheimer. He said he began following the carrier because he saw a driver he believed was behaving suspiciously in his neighborhood in Tacoma.
“There is nothing to do with him being Black,” Troyer said.
Troyer’s call to a 911 dispatcher, which came in shortly after 2 a.m., spurred an urgent countywide alert that sent more than 40 officers from multiple agencies rushing toward the scene, public records show. Most were called off after Tacoma police arrived.
“I’m yelling ‘What are you guys here for? What am I doing wrong? You guys are trying to arrest a paper carrier!’ ” Altheimer said.
Early on Jan. 27, Altheimer was working his regular delivery route in his Geo Prizm in Tacoma’s West End when, he said, he noticed a white SUV following him.
“I’m throwing papers out the window, left and right, both windows are down,” Altheimer said. He said he didn’t know it was the county sheriff behind the wheel of the unmarked Chevy Tahoe.
When a responding police officer asked Troyer whether he had been threatened, as his call to dispatchers repeatedly had claimed, the sheriff “advised that (Altheimer) never threatened him” and said he had seen no weapons. Still, Troyer said, he was sure that Altheimer “wanted to fight,” according to the police report.
After conferring with Troyer and a Tacoma police sergeant, a responding police officer released Altheimer.
“All he had to do is calmly say, ‘Hey, I am delivering newspapers,’ ” Troyer said.