CLARK COUNTY, Wash. — The Clark County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) launched a review into whether deputies misused the mute function on their body‑worn cameras during the investigation into the death of motorist Marc Fogle.
Attorneys for Fogle’s family, Mark Lindquist and Angus Lee, alleged deputies repeatedly and deliberately muted their body‑cam audio at critical moments in the hours after Fogle was killed, ensuring no record exists of key conversations.
Fogle died after Deputy Bryson Layton stabbed him 17 times with a dagger inside a breath‑test room during what began as a possible DUI investigation, according to the attorneys. They said Layton’s dagger was his personal weapon, not issued by the sheriff’s office.
Attorneys say no video captured the killing, making the later muting suspicious
At the time of the fatal encounter, Layton’s body camera, both video and audio, was turned off, the attorneys said. They also contended the security camera in the breath‑test observation room was not operating. In that context, they argued the decision by other deputies to mute their audio immediately afterward is especially suspicious.
“This letter concerns an issue separate and apart from allegations that Deputy Layton’s use of deadly force was unjustified,” Lindquist and Lee wrote in a letter to Clark County Sheriff John Horch. “Rather, it concerns what appears to be a systemic misuse of the body-worn camera mute function by numerous Clark County Sheriff’s Office deputies during the investigation of Mr. Fogle’s death.”
In a written response, the sheriff’s office said the matter is under review.
The attorneys argued that muting body‑cam audio in this way violates the CCSO policies and undermines the spirit of Washington’s Public Records Act. They said the pattern of muting is “inconsistent with the stated purpose of the body-worn camera program.”
“The concern presented here is not simply that audio is missing, but that deputies wrongfully, and suspiciously, muted the audio at critical times immediately in the aftermath of an officer-involved killing,” they wrote.
According to Lindquist and Lee, the alleged misuse of the mute function does more than raise questions; it removes evidence. They argued it:
- Deprived investigators of contemporaneous information about what deputies saw, did, and said.
- Deprived prosecutors of potentially relevant details that could inform charging decisions.
- Deprived courts and juries of objective evidence they are meant to consider.
- Deprived the public of the transparency body cameras were introduced to provide.
Lee said the lack of video and audio during the actual killing heightens their concerns about the muted recordings that followed.
“The deputy’s body camera mysteriously turning off during the incident, while at the same time the breath-test room camera was not operating, makes the muting of audio by other deputies immediately afterward even more troubling,” Lee said.
Internal review remains ongoing, with no formal investigation announced
In their letter, the attorneys listed specific deputies who muted their body‑cam audio during the Fogle death investigation, though the sheriff’s office has not publicly commented on those individual actions.
The internal review by CCSO is said to be ongoing. It’s not yet clear whether the sheriff’s office will open a formal Internal Affairs investigation or whether any deputies could face discipline stemming from the use of the mute function in the Fogle case.
KIRO Newsradio has reached out to CCSO for comment, but has not received a response as of this reporting.
Lindquist and Lee are no strangers to Clark County. They have previously sued the county three times in wrongful death and excessive force cases, resulting in settlements of $7.5 million, $3.5 million, and $1.25 million.
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