Union Won’t Back Ex-Trooper’s Appeal

The union that represents state troopers has refused to back former trooper Lane Jackstadt’s appeal of his firing.

Jackstadt, a 12-year veteran of the Washington State Patrol, was dismissed last month for misconduct in connection with is July 1994 detention of a young couple traveling to an abortion clinic.

The executive board of the Washington State Patrol Troopers Association voted Friday against supporting Jackstadt’s appeal of his termination before a disciplinary board.

“It was a tough decision,” said Bill Hanson, president of the troopers association, which represents nearly 1,000 law-enforcement officers statewide. “There were a lot of different concerns. We had to make a decision on whose version of the story to believe.”

The decision means Jackstadt must pay his own legal costs and can only take his case to a review board of the patrol, Hanson said.

Jackstadt was fired last month after an internal investigation concluded he violated the patrol’s code of ethics in the July 27, 1994, traffic stop of a pregnant teenager and her boyfriend.

The couple were driving to a Planned Parenthood clinic for an abortion appointment when Jackstadt stopped them for speeding.

The investigation found Jackstadt lectured the couple about abortion alternatives, then took them to a Woodinville center for anti-abortion counseling.

The couple left and went through with the abortion.

Jackstadt, a Christian conservative, said he merely offered alternatives to the planned abortion and that the couple accompanied him to the counseling center voluntarily.

But Hanson said the 14-member executive board members had concerns about Jackstadt’s truthfulness and whether the union could prevail in a disciplinary hearing.

Jackstadt was tried on criminal charges of unlawful imprisonment and official misconduct in May, but a King County Superior Court jury couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict and a mistrial was declared.