PEIRCE COUNTY, Wash. — Pierce County Sheriff’s Major Chadwick Dickerson has been charged with DUI and vehicular assault after a July car crash that injured a family of six.
The incident occurred when Dickerson allegedly failed to yield at an intersection in Graham, causing his truck to collide with an SUV carrying three children, their parents, and their grandmother.
The grandmother suffered a fractured back and ribs in the crash.
During a news conference, Sheriff Keith Swank said, “I stayed away from it completely so that no one would say that I tried to influence the investigation in any way.”
According to court documents, after the crash, Dickerson left the scene with his wife and daughter, despite being told to stay.
He was later found at an urgent care clinic.
Pierce County deputies who responded to the collision did not have their body cameras on consistently, with some cameras turned off and others activated late, court docs said.
“I believe everybody that arrived at that scene that day should have had their camera on, and I don’t know if there’s anything I can do about it, but if there is, I will,” said Sheriff Swank
A state trooper who arrived to investigate was surprised to find Dickerson gone.
Dickerson later told troopers he had consumed two vodka sodas while golfing. However, he told troopers, “I don’t feel like I was impaired.”
A blood sample taken nearly four hours after the collision showed his BAC at .09, according to court documents.
Dickerson was arrested and appeared in court two days later.
He was officially charged on Oct. 22.
He remains on paid administrative leave pending further action.
Sheriff Swank has initiated an investigation into the conduct of the deputies involved at the scene.
“As soon as I received this document and reviewed it, and the undersheriff reviewed it, we opened an investigation into all the conduct of the deputies involved at the scene that day,” Swank said.
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