Sheriff’s deputy on paid leave after citizen complaint

Spokane County Sheriff’s Deputy Todd Saunders has been placed on paid administrative leave while the agency investigates a complaint his marked patrol car was parked for lengthy periods at a home on the West Plains. Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich confirmed Saunders’ leave Monday. He said the woman who lived at the home and her adult children were not being cooperative with detectives looking into the allegations. The complaint was originally lodged by a man who lived in the neighborhood, Knezovich said. The witness told a Sheriff’s deputy Saunders’ marked car could be seen at the residence at “all hours of the night, with the engine running, to the point that many people thought he lived there,” Knezovich said. The home is not Saunders’, Knezovich said.