Officers lauded for MLK bomb case
Department holds employee award ceremony
Spokane police officials recognized members of the Spokane City-County Explosive Disposal Unit Wednesday for their handling of a bomb planted outside the busy downtown Martin Luther King Jr. parade last year.
Their actions were among numerous in the Spokane Police Department lauded at an employee award ceremony Wednesday.
On Jan. 17, 2011, Officer Shawn Pegram operated the robot that inspected the bomb found along the planned parade route and unit members determined it was a viable explosive device.
Officers only had two options for rendering the bomb safe: send a countercharge and destroy crucial evidence in the process, or expose a bomb technician to risk by disassembling the explosive component by hand.
So Cpl. Mark Fox with the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office donned a bulky bomb suit, approached the bomb, disassembled the explosive component by hand, and preserved key evidence that would lead to the conviction of Kevin Harpham.
The unit responds to nearly 100 incidents each year, and a third of the incidents involve viable explosive devices, according to the police department.
Others from the explosive disposal unit recognized Wednesday: Officer Aaron Douglas (posthumously), Officer Devin Eriksen, Officer Erin Raleigh, Detective Bill Marshall, Officer Frank Erhart, Sgt. Robbie Dashiell, Sgt. Justin Lundgren and Lt. Brad Arleth, all of the Spokane Police Department. Deputy George Yingst, Deputy Bret Pierson, Sgt. Mike Kittilstved and Lt. Matt Lyons, all with the Sheriff’s Office, were also recognized for their role in the unit.
Detective Jeff Barrington was also among those to receive an award. He earned the Medal of Merit Award for his career spent mostly in the Special Investigative Unit as a drug and gang detective. He investigated nearly 1,400 cases between July 1999 and May 2011. He has also submitted 40 federal indictment requests to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the last three years and served on the Methamphetamine Lab Team, TAC Team and SWAT Team.
Officers Mike McCasland and Holt Widhalm received the Lifesaving Award for entering a small, exhaust-filled garage and rescuing a suicidal person from a vehicle inside. Before medics arrived, they performed CPR to get the victim breathing again and possibly prevented him from suffering serious brain damage.