The two Whatcom County Sheriff's Office deputies who were shot in the face while responding to a call in the Peaceful Valley neighborhood are bringing a civil lawsuit against the man who is charged with shooting them.
The two deputies, Jason Thompson and Ryan Rathbun, and their attorney Daniel Horne of Campiche Andrews Horne PLLC announced the civil lawsuit against Joel Berck Young in a press conference Friday, March 4, in Seattle. Afterwards, they spoke with The Bellingham Herald.
"We have filed a suit against Joel Young for assault and battery of officer(s) Thompson and Rathbun in the line of duty when what they were trying to do was deescalate the situation," Horne told The Herald via Zoom.
Horne said the civil cases already has been filed in Whatcom County Superior Court.
Young, 60, has already been criminally charged with two counts of attempted premeditated first-degree murder, one count of first-degree assault while armed with a firearm, one count of second-degree assault while armed with a firearm, one count of felony harassment, and six counts of reckless endangerment in Whatcom County Superior Court. Young pleaded not guilty to those charges on Feb. 18 and his jury trial was tentatively scheduled for April.
Young is currently being held in the Skagit County Community Justice Center in lieu of $5 million bail.
"We're in the process of investigating civil damages," Horne said. "Getting them full compensation and holding Joel Young accountable for these acts. When the deputies describe in detail what occurred to them, I don't think there is any question that they did exactly what they were trained to do, they followed their training, they followed their human instincts and Mr. Young was unreasonable and uncooperative and decided he was just not going to respect the authority and peacefulness of both the deputies in trying to communicate."
