King County Sheriff Traffic Violation Complaint

Original email to the King County Sheriff's Office Internal Investigations Unit

To the King County Sheriff's Office Internal Investigations Unit,

I am filing a formal misconduct complaint regarding a Shoreline Police / King County Sheriff's Office vehicle that I observed twice disregarding mandatory right-turn-only lane controls on Aurora Ave N in Shoreline, Washington.

Incident details

Date

Monday, May 25, 2026

Time

approximately 8:47 PM to 8:48 PM local time

Vehicle

Washington plate C0328C

Fleet marking

“E17779” displayed vertically on the left rear area

Agency marking

Shoreline Police / KCSO vehicle

Direction

northbound on Aurora Ave N

Emergency equipment

no emergency lights were activated during the recorded incidents

Evidence

one-minute dashcam recording; license plate is clearly visible

Incident 1

Location: Aurora Ave N northbound at N 165th St, Shoreline, WA

Observed conduct: The police vehicle was in the far-right lane. The pavement markings showed a right-turn-only arrow and “ONLY,” and a roadside sign stated “RIGHT LANE MUST TURN RIGHT.” The vehicle continued straight through the intersection instead of turning right.

Incident 2

Location: Aurora Ave N northbound at N 167th St, Shoreline, WA

Observed conduct: The same police vehicle again used the far-right lane marked with a right-turn-only arrow and “ONLY,” with a roadside “RIGHT LANE MUST TURN RIGHT” sign, and again continued straight through the intersection instead of turning right.

My allegation is that the driver failed to obey official traffic-control devices and mandatory lane-use directions. The relevant Washington statutes include RCW 46.61.050 and RCW 46.61.140(3). If any emergency-vehicle exception is asserted, please identify the factual and legal basis for that exception. RCW 46.61.035 allows certain emergency-vehicle privileges only under stated conditions, and subsection (3) ties those exemptions to the use of required visual signals. My dashcam video shows no activated emergency lights.

I request that KCSO open this as a formal complaint, assign a complaint/case number, preserve any body-camera, dash-camera, CAD, AVL/GPS, radio, dispatch, and vehicle assignment records associated with vehicle C0328C during the relevant time window, and investigate whether the involved employee violated Washington law, KCSO policy, Shoreline Police policy, or applicable standards of conduct.

I further request that this matter not be treated solely as an internal disciplinary issue if the same conduct, under the same circumstances, would subject an ordinary driver to a traffic stop, citation, notice of infraction, or traffic-court process. Internal review may be appropriate, but it should not substitute for ordinary legal accountability. Please determine whether this incident should be referred to the appropriate authority for issuance of a traffic citation or notice of infraction, and for handling through the normal court or traffic-infraction process.

I also request a written response explaining:

• how this complaint is classified;
• who is assigned to review or investigate it;
• whether the conduct is sustained, exonerated, unfounded, non-sustained, or otherwise classified;
• whether corrective action, training, counseling, discipline, referral, citation, or notice of infraction is imposed;
• whether the matter will be handled, referred, or reviewed through the same traffic-enforcement process that would apply to an ordinary driver;
• if no citation, notice of infraction, referral, or other external legal action is taken, the specific reason why a marked police vehicle operating without emergency lights may disregard mandatory right-turn-only lane controls in circumstances where an ordinary driver would likely be stopped or cited.

Please confirm receipt of this complaint and provide instructions for submitting the dashcam video in a way that preserves metadata. I can provide the original file and still-frame screenshots upon request.

I am copying the Shoreline Police Chief and Shoreline City Manager because the incident involved a Shoreline-assigned KCSO vehicle operating within the City of Shoreline, and Shoreline's own website states that the Police Chief reports to both the King County Sheriff and the Shoreline City Manager.

Sincerely,
[name withheld]
May 25, 2026

References

• RCW 46.61.050: obedience to official traffic-control devices.
• RCW 46.61.140: driving on roadways laned for traffic.
• RCW 46.61.035: authorized emergency-vehicle privileges and conditions.

IIU reply from Sgt. Sprecher

Good morning,

My name is Sgt. Sprecher with the King County Sheriff's Office Internal Investigations Unit. I have received your complaint and will be doing an intake on it. You can reply to this email with the dash camera footage if you would like. If you would like to do a recorded interview, please let me know and we could schedule one. If you have anything you would like to add you can also do that via email. Please respond to this email by 5 PM on Friday, 05/29/26, with any additional information.

Respectfully,
Sgt. Sprecher

Reply providing evidence links

Good morning Sgt. Sprecher,

Thank you for your response.

I would like to provide additional evidence for your intake review. I have prepared an evidence page that includes the dash camera video and relevant still images:
https://media.x-research.com/shoreline-police-c0328c-traffic-violation.html

The dash camera video file is also available directly here:
https://media.x-research.com/2026-05-25_ShorelinePolice_C0328C.mp4

Please let me know if you have any trouble accessing either link, or if you would prefer that I provide the video in another format.

Respectfully,
[name withheld]

Follow-up requesting evidence receipt and case number

Subject: Follow-up: Evidence receipt and complaint/case number for C0328C traffic complaint

Hi Sgt. Sprecher,

I’m following up on my complaint regarding the Shoreline Police / KCSO vehicle with Washington plate C0328C, observed on May 25, 2026 on northbound Aurora Ave N near N 165th St and N 167th St.

Could you please confirm that you received the raw dashcam footage I sent, and that the file is accessible on your end? If you need the original file in a different format or through a different submission method to preserve metadata, I’m happy to provide it.

Could you also let me know the complaint, incident, or case number I should reference for future follow-up, and which office or unit is handling the review?

Finally, as the reporting party, could you let me know whether I should expect a written disposition or outcome of the complaint, and if so, what the normal follow-up process is?

Thank you,
[name withheld]

IIU reply assigning case number

Good afternoon,

I received the footage and have submitted the intake to the King County Office of Law Enforcement Oversight. The KCSO Internal Investigations Unit will be handling the review, and it has been assigned case number IIU2026-102. There is a 180-day timeline to complete investigations.

Respectfully,
Sgt. Sprecher