Spokane7
42°
The Spokane Valley Police officer who fatally shot a pastor and
greenhouse owner last week was identified Monday as Deputy Brian Hirzel. Spokane
Police spokeswoman Jennifer DeRuwe said 
Hirzel has been with the
Spokane Valley Department for two years. The Spokane County Sheriff’s
Office contracts with the city of Spokane Valley to provide deputies to
serve as police officers. Previously, Hirzel had worked at the
Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office in Idaho and as an officer in Cathedral
City, Calif., which is near Palm Springs. DeRuwe – who is
handling news releases because of a critical incident protocol between
departments – offered no new information about why Hirzel shot Pastor
Wayne “Scott” Creach outside his business, the Plan Farm at 14208 E.
Fourth Ave/Thomas Clouse, SR. More here.
D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.
999 W. Riverside, Spokane, WA 99201
P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210
Main switchboard: (509) 459-5000 • (800) 338-8801
Newsroom: (509) 459-5400 • (800) 789-0029
Customer service: (800) 338-8801
© Copyright 2012, The Spokesman-Review
Terms of use • Privacy policy • Copyright policy
Find DFO on Facebook
DFO on Twitter
hhuseland on August 30 at 2:56 p.m.
I would think that the critical points would be, did the pastor fire a shot first? Did the pastor point his gun directly at the deputy? These points and the answers to them will make all the difference in the world. If, on the other hand, the officer fired without identifying himself as a police officer, or without his safety being critically threatened, different story. I guess we’ll just have to wait, and hope that another cover up doesn’t occur.
Lynne on August 31 at 7:21 a.m.
Was he involved in the drug thefts at the jail a couple years back? Name sounds familiar and his court file has been sealed.
Stickman on August 31 at 1:38 p.m.
We can speculate all we want, but until the story comes out, like Herb said, it’s all a moot point.
RValenzCatCityPD8702 on September 13 at 7:33 a.m.
I’ve known Deputy Hirzel since before he joined the ranks of our dept. here in So. Cal. Your community is lucky to have such a honorable man serve you. These incidents are never as depicted on tv or the movies. They have long lasting effects on everyone including the families of the only 2 people who have the answer to why this happened. No one suits up for work and decides “today I’m going to ruin some lives”. It’s never something we look forward to, but know it can happen at anytime.
Knowing Hirzel like I do, I’m sure he exhausted every option before making the decision he felt neccessary. I hope everyone can reserve judgement until the final investigation is complete.