TACOMA — Pierce County prosecutors are looking into allegations that Seattle Police Deputy Chief Eric Barden — already facing possible charges for domestic abuse — asked a deputy to lie on a police report and not arrest his former domestic partner, who was accused of violating a protective order last year, according to documents released by the prosecutor’s office.
A spokesperson for the Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office confirmed
Friday that the office is reviewing a criminal referral involving allegations that Barden, the Seattle Police Department’s No. 2 in command and a 36-year department veteran, was involved in a domestic assault last year.
While investigating that case, the prosecutor’s office learned of an alleged attempt by Barden to interfere with the arrest of his former domestic partner for violating a protective order Barden had sought after filing for the dissolution of their “intimate committed relationship,” Washington’s version of a common-law marriage, according to Pierce County court documents.
According to a June 7 letter from Pierce County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Coreen Schnepf and addressed to the Seattle Office of Police Accountability, the alleged incident came to light last year, but a new prosecutor in the office did not bring it to anyone’s attention.
Schnepf states that OPA should open its own investigation into Barden. OPA Director Gino Betts Jr. confirmed his office’s investigation Friday, as well as the agency’s continued interest in the outcome of the criminal investigation into alleged domestic abuse in Pierce County.
“As you are aware, a new criminal investigation involving Eric Barden has been initiated by the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office,” Schnepf wrote. “During that investigation, this previous incident was brought to my attention by the investigating agency.”
In separate notification letters dated June 11 to Barden and interim Seattle police Chief Sue Rahr, the prosecutor’s office stated that, as a result of the allegations, Barden has “provisionally” been placed on the county’s so called “impeachment list” — also known as a Brady List — which contains the names of police officers with potential credibility problems.
The court documents reveal a bitter back-and-forth breakup between Barden and the woman, with allegations of abuse on both sides. In May 2022, the woman sued Barden to end the couple’s “committed intimate relationship” that began in 2016.
The documents indicate Barden later sought a protective order after saying the woman came to a Pierce County house just before Christmas and tried to break in. In seeking the order, Barden claimed she “has proven to be unpredictable and violent.”
Barden made a report and deputies on Jan. 17, 2023, obtained a gross misdemeanor criminal complaint against the woman alleging she violated the protective order. Barden allegedly tried to talk them out of it, according to Schnepf’s letter.
“The information that our office received is described as police reports where Eric Barden asks a deputy not to make a mandatory arrest and asks the deputy to include false information in the deputy’s police report,” Schnepf wrote.
According to a story last week by KING 5 news, the station obtained records showing the deputy refused, saying he “will not be breaking the law by putting false information in his report.”
In addition to the letter to OPA, Schnepf included notifications sent to Barden and Rahr, who has allowed Barden to stay in his job pending the outcome of the investigations. Officer Eric Muñoz confirmed Friday that Barden remains on duty.
Ongoing upset over allegations of patronizing, abusive and discriminatory behavior in SPD’s command staff loomed large in the decision by Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell to remove Adrian Diaz as chief and bring in Rahr, a respected former King County sheriff and police reformer, as a temporary chief while a permanent successor is sought.
