Felony charges urged for corrections officer

The Airway Heights Police Department is recommending that felony charges be brought against a corrections officer who pulled his gun out of its holster when he was approached by two co-workers while on duty in March.

Police Chief Lee Burnett said the department forwarded two counts of second-degree assault and two counts of unlawful imprisonment to the Spokane County prosecutor’s office.

The findings resulted from an investigation into a March 6 incident in which corrections Officer Jim Aguilar, 59, pulled his gun while being approached by two supervisors doing a routine check at the Airway Heights Corrections Center.

“For whatever reason,” Corrections Department spokeswoman Risa Klemme told The Spokesman-Review last month, Aguilar “took umbrage with that” and drew his 9 mm pistol.

At the time, Aguilar was on duty at an armed perimeter post at the prison, Klemme said. The officer pointed the gun at the ground in front of the two superior officers, not at them.

“The lieutenants said he was way out of line,” Burnett said, “but (Aguilar) says he was reverting back to his training.”

Aguilar has worked for the state since 1984, according to Klemme, including 12 years at the Airway Heights facility. He has been on paid administrative leave since the incident.