"Before I was elected Sheriff, I was well aware of the incident that Deputy Wallin was involved in that led to his termination by the former administration. I believe I speak for many Sheriff’s Office employees that we were shocked when the former administration decided to terminate him even after he was cleared of criminal charges by the Snohomish County Prosecuting Attorney. After the election, but prior to taking office, I made no promises to Deputy Wallin other than I would give the case a second look. I felt obligated to do so since the facts that I knew at the time of the incident did not seem to warrant termination. I knew full well that after taking office I could learn more information that previously had not been available to me which may lead me to upholding the termination case. I went into the review process with an open mind. The review consisted of reading the entire file, which included both the results of the SMART investigation and the Sheriff’s Office internal investigation by the Office of Professional Accountability. The file contained additional information that I did not have prior to taking office. After carefully reviewing the information, I found the termination of Deputy Wallin was not justified and that his actions were reasonable under the circumstances the suspect chose to put him in that night: