‘Glamorous’ State Trooper Charged in Deadly DUI Crash Death

We were out on 240 at uh Village Parkway. with a likely fatal collision. Uh State. started taking it, but then realized. that one of the involved drivers is an. offduty state cooper. >> Almost 6 months after she was involved. in a deadly crash that killed a young. motorcyclist, Washington State Trooper. Sarah Clayson is facing a charge of. vehicular homicide. The push for charges. has been growing in recent weeks with. the police and prosecutor social media. pages getting flooded with comments. asking why she hadn't been charged. We're talking about these updates. We're.

talking about the lawsuit. We're taking. another look at Clayson's behavior at. the scene. Plus, there is new video as. police investigated what she was. allegedly doing before the crash. And we. are going to break it all down with. Washington attorney Andrea Burkhard. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and. Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. All right, so before we get started, I. got to address this elephant in the. room. Yep, this looks horrible. It's a. sty. It is bad. It hurts. It is. disgusting. We're probably going to. cover me with a lot of B-roll throughout. the course of this episode, but I just.

wanted to give you this warning. This is. why I look like this. It's going to take. a little time. Got to work it out. I. think it's bad makeup or something like. that. But yeah, that's what's happening. Let's go into the story. In March of. this year, Sarah Clayson, the public. information officer for the Washington. State Patrol, a 13-year veteran of this. department, was involved in a crash. after reportedly picking up a pizza near. her home in Richland. and she claims. that a motorcycle that was ridden by. 20-year-old Jose Vega Sanchez quote came. out of nowhere and collided with her.

car, a Kia Telluride. Now, something to. note here, she was not on duty at the. time of the crash. She was not in a. state patrol vehicle. But in the end, it. doesn't change what happened because. tragically, Jose died. Died at a. hospital from his injuries. And since. then, a potential court case against. Clayson has been listed as pre-file. While prosecutors from another county, they were working to decide if they. would eventually charge her. Now, investigators, they were reportedly. waiting on the results of a toxicology.

report, right, to see if Clay was. intoxicated when there was this. collision. There had been suspicion at. the scene that Clayson had been. drinking, and she seemed to deny on. scene that she was intoxicated, but. there was a blood draw that was done to. confirm what happened. >> Well, I'll I'll be honest with you. I I. would love to rule out impairment, but. without the fields, it is hard to rule. that out. Obviously, it's voluntary. I. won't I won't ask you again, but um. there there may always be that question. >> Yeah. >> Down the road.

>> I I just rather not. >> Okay. Yeah, I understand. But. I know how it goes, too. So, >> yeah. What do you mean, you know how it. goes? >> I even if there's like. a little if I. had something I had a gloss on early or. something like that, I I just don't want. I just don't want to do it. >> Okay. >> Yeah. But no, I definitely don't feel.

impaired. I don't feel there was. impairment as an issue. I I. >> Did you have a glass wine earlier? >> Not going to answer it. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> All right. So, they um did get a warrant. for the blood. So, we're going to do. that now. >> Okay. >> Then we go to April. The Tri City Herald. reported that it had obtained hundreds. of pages of police investigation. paperwork which included the report from. the Washington State Patrol Seattle.

Toxicology Laboratory. The Tri City. Herald reported that Clayson's blood. alcohol level was.17. That percentage was nearly 6 hours after. the crash. The Herald also reported that. Clayson allegedly tried to leave the. scene, even getting into her heavily. damaged SUV and trying to drive off, but. apparently she couldn't because Jose's. motorcycle was stuck underneath it. According to the Herald, one witness. described her more like a nervous.

teenager than a seasoned police officer. In that article from April, Spokane. County prosecutor Larry Haskell was. quoted as saying that his office was. doing more testing. Although what. exactly that testing was was unclear at. the time, but he promised that once that. was done, there was going to be a. thorough review of the file. By the way, talking video like this, let me tell. you, we here at Sidebar, we produce so. many video clips a day. And we use a. platform called Opus Clip that may be. very interesting to you because it's an. all-in-one AI editor that makes it.

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audience. So give it a try for yourself. Go to opus.pro/sidebar. to start creating your own videos today. Well, that brings us to what just. happened. September 4th, Clayson was. officially charged with one count of. vehicular homicide. And something else. that happened between the time of the. crash and the charge being filed, Jose's. family filed a wrongful death lawsuit. against Clayson and her husband. And an. amended complaint that was filed in. April names a local bar and its owners.

because according to police, Clayson is. believed to have been drinking at the. Moon Palace restaurant. This is. apparently owned by Bong Jim Bradley and. Brian Woo. According to this amended. complaint, Clayson had met her husband. at the Moon Palace restaurant on March. 1st at around 3:30 p.m. And according to. the amended complaint, it reads, quote, "Between approximately 3:28 p.m. and. 7:26 p.m. on March 1st, 2025, defendant. Moon Palace served alcohol to an. apparently intoxicated defendant, Sarah.

Clayon." Then the allegation is is that. she switches cars with her husband, drives off, and at 7:38 p.m. fails to. yield the right of way, turns left in. front of Jose, and collides with him. The complaint states, "Defendant Moon. Palace's actions were a proximate cause. of Jose Sanchez's injuries, pain, suffering, and death." By the way, the. Washington State Patrol apparently told. the Akima Herald Republic last week that.

Clayson at last check is still on paid. administrative leave. Now, that may have. changed, but not entirely sure, but that. seems to be the most recent reporting of. this. Now, we're going to play you some. body cam moments that I think are quite. important to this story, quite important. to this case. But first, to talk about. these latest developments to go through. all this, I want to bring back on to. Sidebar Washington trial attorney Andrea. Birkhart, who has her own YouTube page. Encourage everybody to go check it out. So good to see you again cuz we had you. back on uh here I think in March when.

Jose's family had filed that lawsuit. Now we have this amended complaint and. now we have a charge against Clayson. So. let's get right into this. Is 6 months. or so is that a typical amount of time. to file charges in a case and a possible. you know DUI case? >> So in a case of this nature uh it's not. unheard of in the state of Washington. And the reason why is because we have a. little peculiarity in our law that. requires blood alcohol analysis to be.

performed uh only by the state. toxicology lab. They can't contract out. with a private laboratory in the event. of backlogs or for rush orders or things. like that. So the state crime lab has. been extremely backlogged for quite a. significant length of time. And that. means that in cases where uh blood. alcohol analysis is critical to the. charging decision, uh those charging. decisions can unfortunately end up being. delayed uh fairly substantially.

>> Do you think that this is the right. charge given the alleged facts in this. case? And do you think it's an easier. case to prosecute? >> Um it does seem like an appropriate. charge to me. Uh it's the charge that I. would expected uh would have expected to. be filed uh in a case of this nature. Um. given the the role of alcohol uh that. based on what we know now about the. investigation uh clearly seems to have. have played a role in uh in in what. unfolded in a case like this. I think.

it's normal to be uh concerned about the. appearance of perhaps um different set. of rules applied to a law enforcement uh. defendant rather than uh the rules that. would be applied to just an ordinary. member of the public. Uh but from what. I've seen from the charging decision uh. that does not raise any particular red. flags for me. >> But do you think I mean what do you. think is going to stand out to you in. terms of from an evidentiary point of. view? What do you think prosecutors need.

to do to secure a conviction here? >> Well, I think her her behavior at the. scene uh certainly isn't particularly. helpful. Uh there were some reports by. witnesses who were present at the time. that indicated they thought she was. trying to leave the scene. uh her presentation uh doesn't. necessarily uh come across as somebody. who is perhaps in the best condition to. be behind the wheel of a vehicle. But.

ultimately at the end of the day, science tends to carry these types of. cases. And so the the blood alcohol. result which has come back as a.17. uh that's more than twice the legal. limit in in the state of Washington uh. is likely going to I think carry the. most significant weight with the jury. >> Yeah, I think that's important. I think. that's problematic. Maybe the. surveillance footage as well from uh. this crash. Uh by the way, so because of. her position, right, the county.

prosecutor had to recuse himself uh from. this case. it sent it over to Spokane. County instead. Do you think that's also. what affected the timeline of the. charging as well? >> I don't think so. Uh I would have. expected that that would be anticipated. uh pretty early on once uh the the. information about this case began to uh. enter the the prosecutor's office. They. would have known right away uh if this. is a a trooper that uh routinely refers. cases to them that they uh engage with.

as a witness and and investigator. and. so forth. Uh so I would expect they. would have been prepared for that type. of step uh to be taken. It's not too. uncommon in this part of the world where. uh we are relatively small communities. Uh conflicts are not unheard of and so. uh movements like this uh do do happen. with some frequency. >> Now again I'm going to play this body. cam uh in a moment to get some different. perspective kind of what we're talking. about. But just going to this complaint,

going to this civil case. First of all, how does this criminal charge affect the. lawsuit? Let's start there. >> Well, the criminal charge uh has the. potential to significantly affect the. criminal lawsuit because of the legal. principle of what's called risk. judicata. And it's just the idea that. you don't get to relitigate issues over. and over and over again once there has. been a decision by a court with. appropriate jurisdiction and the parties. have had a full and fair opportunity to.

present their case. Uh then that ruling. is going to stick. And so in the context. of a of a criminal conviction, uh should. she be convicted of this crime, uh that. is likely then going to be taken as an. established fact for purposes of of the. civil lawsuit. Uh and they would not. need to litigate her responsibility or. uh likely her impairment uh for purposes. of of establishing the elements that. they need for uh civil recovery. >> and this civil case. What do you make of.

them adding the woos now to this amended. complaint? I'm honestly not terribly. surprised that that that would happen. Uh anytime you have a a situation like. this where a death results as the result. of uh consumption of alcohol, we have in. Washington what are known as dramop. laws. And those laws basically establish. certain responsibility on the part of. people who are serving alcohol to others. uh to be responsible about how much.

alcohol you're providing to notice when. somebody uh is excessively impaired uh. and may not be safe to leave. Uh and so. liability can be imposed on those types. of individuals and establishments. They're also a common target in civil. cases like this because they're likely. to carry insurance. And so for purposes. of recovery and having some kind of. predictability of there being resources. available to satisfy a civil judgment, it's pretty normal to look to the.

establishment that provided the alcohol. as a potential contributor as well. >> So what I want to do now is I want to. look back. I want to look back at this. accident scene and also a Richland. officer's interactions with Clayson. because it gives an indication of why he. was suspicious that she might be. intoxicated. That's what we're talking. about. Take a look at this. Hey. >> Hello. >> How's it going? >> Um do you want to talk over here real. quick? >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, um I'm Steve. I'm with the. traffic unit. So, just um I know this is.

probably uncomfortable, but we're just. going to, you know, treat this like as. if it was anything else. Mhm. >> We want to uh figure out what was going. on just, you know, just in order to rule. anything out. >> Yeah. >> Like obviously, you know, it's just as. important to rule everything out as it. is to confirm everything. So, >> um I'm just getting here. So, I know you. already answered some questions from the. other guys, but generally what happened. and. >> uh so I went and picked up a Domino's. pizza. Okay. >> Uh I was turning left from here. I live.

right over there on Wild Canyon Way. >> Okay. Uh, I saw what I thought was a car. with one headlight out. >> Okay. >> Uh, right just past where the reflective. sign is, that white one. >> Okay. Sure. >> And so I was already slowing in the turn. lane and. >> saw him there and I was like, I have. enough time. Okay. >> I turned and as soon as I turned, just. felt the boom. >> Okay. Okay. So, as you're turning, you. you thought he was further away.

>> No, he was definitely past that. reflective side. when I when I saw him. and then I think I just. >> like I say I thought it was a car with a. headlight out realiz. >> Okay. >> So you think he was going pretty quick? >> Yes. Cuz from. that reflective sign it's kind of I turn. I live here so that's always my like. general rule. If they're past that sign. then you got plenty of time if you're.

slowing to turn in. >> Gotcha. So, so you know based on making. this turn and numerous times that you. know how to judge that distance like. Okay, good to go. Okay. >> All right. Um, so, uh, you're probably aware we're just. going to like run this like like normal. So, I'm just going to run you through. some voluntary field so test if you're. willing to. Okay. >> Yeah. I don't think I want to do any. >> Okay. All right. Uh, what about the um. PBT? You willing to do a voluntary PBT? >> I don't want to do any test based on the. the. >> Okay. Okay. Understood. Um, what about.

obviously you just gave me like a verbal. statement. Are you willing to write um. down a um a statement on paper? >> Yeah. All right. Let me go grab a. statement form. >> and I'll let you fill that out and then. um I know you want to get out of here. So, um we'll do that. That way we just. kind of lock everything in for for. today. So, >> sounds good. >> All right. Yeah, just give me a few. minutes. >> Yeah, no worries. >> Yep. >> Andrea Burkhart, that's very interesting. interaction there. What stands out to. you? What was the reaction to how the. officer and Clayson are interacting with.

each other? What stood out? >> Well, certainly the the refusal to do. the field sobriety tests. Um that that. is uh not going to be helpful in a in a. trial situation. Uh that is evidence. that can be used as a consciousness of. guilt, so to speak. So, I think it's. kind of natural for a jury watching this. situation to think, hey, if you knew you. didn't do anything wrong, uh you would. have been happy to cooperate with that. and simply rule out as the officer said. the the potential for impairment. Uh the.

other thing I think that stands out to. me is that um she did give a fairly. specific statement about her perception. of of what transpired. And it seems that. according to the probable cause. affidavit, they've been able to. determine uh from some of the evidence. at the scene, the roadway evidence. that's often used uh in traffic uh. collision reconstruction types of. analysis that her her account is is not. accurate. Um they were able to estimate.

the speed of the motorcycle as. approximately 54 miles an hour. This is. a 55 mph um zone. So well within uh the. speed limit for this area. I think. ultimately uh the combination of those. um those two issues are are likely to. pose a problem uh for the defense uh. facing a potential jury here. >> Yeah. And by the way, this officer has. Clayson fill out a statement on what. happened, which according to police. reports we reviewed was only six.

sentences long, contained a couple of. misspellings, and the police report. notes that Clayson spent nearly 18. minutes in a patrol car writing it out. And the investigator was surprised by. how short it was. According to police. documents, quote, Sarah told me that as. she turned onto Village Parkway, she. felt the impact of her hitting the. motorcycle as soon as she turned. Sarah. told me that the motorcyclist was. definitely going faster than the posted. speed limit. Sarah did not elaborate on.

how she came to this conclusion. And we. should note that later reports would. determine that Jose, who had only ridden. the motorcycle a few times before this, according to his family, was going. again, as we just talked about, 2 m. under the 55 mph speed limit when. Clayson turned in front of him. Now, continuing from the report, it says, quote, Sarah mentioned multiple times. that she believed it was a vehicle with. one headlight out instead of a. motorcycle. I found this statement to be. odd considering that whether it was a. motorcycle or a four-wheel vehicle, nothing would change regarding her. responsibility to yield to the right of.

way or in determining if there was. enough time to safely turn in front of. it. Andrew, what do you make of that? Trying to come up with reasons why the. crash was unavoidable. Again, something. that you talked about before, but it's. just interesting as we're elaborating on. it. Well, I I think this is going to. come across as as deflection as. attempting to uh pin the responsibility. for the incident on uh the the. motorcycle rider uh rather than than. herself. Uh he's going too fast. He was.

uh operating a vehicle that wasn't in. compliance with the the rules of the. road. Uh to me this this appears to be. responsibility shifting that I think is. is unlikely to sit well um with with. folks who are tasked with judging the. case. >> So after conferring with his fellow. officers, this officer puts Clayson into. handcuffs and she seems to kind of be. rethinking whether she wants to. participate in a breath test or field. sobriety test, you know, to avoid being.

detained. But obviously it's too late. Take a look. >> Do you want to grab the throw? No, I think she has something on board. >> Do you really? >> Yeah. >> Yeah. So, >> we have to. >> Is there going to be enough to search. for it? >> So, yeah, I'll write it. >> I mean, unless you want. >> What changed? >> So, I was just studying her. Um, her she. got a couple misspelled words on here. >> Okay. >> She wrote sigh s. She she she said 100.

feet. She um Sorry, I'm going a little. fast. She she estimated the uh the. distance between the guy on the. motorcycle and her to be 100 feet, which. that's way more than that's like yes 500. ft. Um she said she was almost through. her turn when clearly she was at the. very beginning of her turn. Her eyes are. a little bit glassy. A little bit. >> but could be could be but we got to air. on the side of caution. I do not have a.

great sense of smell, but I think I. smelled a little bit of odored alcohol. enough for me to say. And then I I told. her I'm like, "Hey, we just want to rule. out impairment." And by you not doing. it, I'm like, "I'm not going to ask you. again." But I'm like, "We can't rule it. out." And she's like, "Yeah, well, if I. would have had a glass of wine earlier, I know how this goes." And I said, "Did. you have a glass of wine earlier?" She. said, "I'm not going to ask for that.". So, >> okay. >> I think with everything. back, >> we Yeah, we have to. I mean, I will.

write the search warrant. >> Um, >> um, but yeah, I'm still recording. I'm. still recording. I I would have loved to. have ruled it out. >> All right. So, like I said, we're really. trying to rule alcohol out. I I'm not. convinced that alcohol wasn't a factor. So, right now, you are under arrest. Okay. Okay. >> Let's go ahead and put your hand behind. you back. >> So, we will be um a search warrant for. blood. Okay.

That way there will be no questions. Well, this this so we're trying to treat. this like any other incident and. typically once. >> the opportunity kind of comes and that. you you know you say you don't want to. do it is voluntary and then if you want. to do it um. >> well I do voluntary breath test. but I just didn't want to do the fields. >> Okay. So, you wanted to submit to I. think with this the the significance of.

this I think it's probably we're going. to probably need a search warrant. Okay, >> that's fine. >> All right. I appreciate your. cooperation. >> No worries. Of course. >> Okay, Miss Burkhart. Um, that was. interesting. What did you make of it? >> Well, she plainly contradicted her. earlier refusal to take the the portable. breath breath test, the the PBT. She in. fact explicitly said she wasn't willing. to do that. Uh, so now she's she's. trying to suggest that, you know, she. was she she is is willing and perhaps. was willing to do that all along. Um,

it's just it's it's not going to be a. good look. >> No. And she was booked on a 72-hour. hold. She saw a judge, by the way, released her on her own recgnissance. You had a prosecutor asked for $150,000. bail, but the judge noted that Clayson. had these significant ties to the. community, that she was cooperative on. scene. So, there wasn't a concern about. Clayson fleeing. But as the. investigation into what happened in the. hours leading up to the crash continued, police then learned about the Moon.

Palace. And according to documents that. were reviewed by the Tri City Herald, Clayson and her husband were apparently. regulars at this bar, which it seems. used to be a Chinese restaurant. And. according to the reports that the. newspaper reviewed, the business only. deals in cash, and customers have to. apparently come in through a side. entrance while the front door remains. locked. I mean, again, that's based on. these allegations here, but you can see. the officer using that side entrance on. body cam a few days after the crash. Take a look.

>> Hey, how's it going? >> Hi. >> Just have a couple questions for you. >> Um, I'm I'm investigating a crash that. happened a few days ago, and I just. wanted to know if you had any video or. any uh documentation about the people. who may have been here. >> Uh, no, I don't have any videos here. >> Okay. Um, what about the receipts or. anything? >> They pay cash if it goes on. >> Everybody pays cash. >> Okay. >> All right. >> So, sorry about that. >> Okay. Yeah, no problem. All right. You. take it easy. Thank you.

>> Yep. >> Now, the investigating officer. apparently wrote in his report, quote, "Up to this point, I was unaware that. the Moon Palace was currently a. functional business, even though I was. aware the building was at this location. The years that I've worked for the city. of Richland, I had presumed that it was. an abandoned building that used to. function as a Chinese restaurant. So, it's unclear how much the Clayins had to. drink while they were inside because you.

listen to this. Police believe the bar's. workers may have allegedly deleted. details about their tab. Andrea, that. doesn't look good for Clay or the bar, right? >> No, it looks very bad. Uh this is all. again consciousness of guilt uh type of. activity. Uh and they're going to have. to of course question this assertion. that the the business operates entirely. in cash. Uh there there's clearly going. to be a mechanisms for police to to be.

able to investigate uh the veracity of. of that statement. Um, so it's not of. course illegal to do that, but it would. certainly be highly uncommon in this day. and age and in a food and beverage kind. of business um to, you know, not take. credit cards. Uh, so is just again more. dishonesty and kind of covering the. tracks that uh is ultimately not going. to look very good at all.

>> Now, Clayson's arraignment is scheduled. for later this month. However, her. defense attorney, Scott Johnson, and I. want your opinion about this, told local. outlets, quote, "In today's world, people demand instant answers and then. rush to judgment. However, drawing. conclusions without all the facts is not. only irresponsible, but also unjust to. our client. She deserves and the law. demands that she receives fair and. impartial proceedings, not a system. biased against her." That seems to be. kind of general statement, right? It. doesn't really go into specifics. I. guess the question would be what do you.

expect Clayson's defense to be whether. from a criminal charge or from a. lawsuit? And obviously that might be a. little different, might be similar. >> Well, I I expect there's likely to be a. substantial amount of crossover because. ultimately if you can beat the criminal. conviction, uh it doesn't mean that. you're not ultimately going to be civily. liable. Of course, OJ Simpson case is. the most notorious example of that. Uh. but it does mean that it would be a lot. more work potentially to get that that.

civil judgment against her. So um. I would ultimately given what I know. about this case expect the defense to uh. largely be a legal one. Uh they have to. try to get this blood alcohol result. thrown out. Uh that's kind of how I see. it. Um, I expect they might try to use. her um statement in the patrol car that. she was willing to cooperate uh with. providing a sample. Perhaps then uh that. would uh invalidate uh either the the.

search warrant that resulted um if that. information wasn't included that she was. she was willing to voluntar voluntarily. provide it. Uh or or something along. those lines. uh because if they're able. to get that um blood alcohol content uh. ruled to be inadmissible at trial, uh. then I think they're in a much stronger. position. Oh, yeah. Uh when it comes to. the distinction between the fact that. it's not illegal to have a drink and. drive a car, but it is illegal to drive.

uh while you are impaired by alcohol. And so the numeric blood analysis. provides a nice clean cut and dried way. to to be able to establish impairment. When you don't have that, then it be it. can become a lot more subjective. And. jurors are going to be able to watch. this body cam footage, the situation. with their own eyes, reach their own. conclusions, and it may not be as as cut. and dry as it is when you have that 0.17.

that they hear. It's almost like, and. it's different, but it's almost like if. you are able to admit that blood alcohol. content into a trial, it's like what we. call strict liability. It's not, but. it's almost like we don't even have to. prove that's who's at fault. If that's. where their blood alcohol content is, jury, you you can see what happened. here. It's not I'm I'm playing with the. the notion a little bit, but that would. be so devastating uh to her case. Real. quick, what would be a way to rule it. inadmissible? Well, I just think they're going to be.

looking at at all aspects of it. They'll. be looking at um the the process. The. warrant itself uh is always going to be. reviewed very closely for for any type. of um any type of issues. Uh they'll be. looking at the process of the draw. itself. Uh they'll be looking at the. process of the analysis in the lab, making sure that uh that is uh 100% by. the book, eyes dotted, tees crossed, uh. and any little slip up in any of those. areas uh could potentially be uh grounds.

for a defense motion. >> Now, we can't forget in all of this, we. put the law to the side, we can't forget. the victim in this case, right? 20-year-old Jose Sanchez. He was born in. Venezuela, recently graduated from high. school here in the US. He lived in the. Tri Cities area for around seven years, according to his family, and was working. as this forklift operator at Lamb West. in a food processing plant. His family. spoke with Apple Valley News in an. emotional interview. His mother said, "When you see Jose, you feel amazing,

like the sun is shining on you." That. was Jose, the sunshine of our family. Now, we've lost him. It's hard for me to. even talk about my son. Sanchez's father. told Apple Valley News that they just. want a fair resolution, saying, "When I. heard it couldn't be an accident, that. the driver was also an offduty WSP. trooper, I thought, oh no, now the truth. is even more difficult to uncover." I. don't know, maybe I'm wrong, but we want. the truth. We want justice. Now, the. family even started a GoFundMe to raise.

money for funeral expenses. and his. mother wrote on the GoFundMe. He was a. bright and loving soul who brought joy. to everyone around him and his absence. has left a void that we cannot begin to. describe. So before we leave, let's just. really quickly talk uh Andrea about the. importance of a civil lawsuit for a. family here to get answers, to get. accountability. Uh obviously the. defendants in this case will have have. an opportunity to present their defense. But why is this an important avenue for.

families who lose a loved one uh. particularly in these kinds of cases? >> Well, it's it's important because uh in. my opinion it gives them a certain. measure of control over the questions. that are asked and the answers that are. sought. Uh the civil process allows for. discovery by uh by the the plaintiffs. Um the discovery rules in Washington are. are quite permissive and quite broad. Uh. so with a police investigation, certainly they're going to be concerned.

about the victims and interested in uh. supporting and and helping the victims, but ultimately their responsibility is. to the community. Uh and they conduct. their investigation with that type of. goal in mind. Uh for the family that may. not be satisfactory. um particularly as. you pointed out with this uh angle of. the the Moon Palace and the potential uh. responsibility that they may have as. well. Uh that's not the type of issue. that law enforcement is going to be.

investigated criminally. Um this is a. civil issue and and not a criminal one. Uh so that type of issue is only going. to be able to be explored uh through a. civil lawsuit like this. Andrew Birkhart, thank you so much for. coming back on to talk about this case. as we have tried to break down these new. developments. Really, really appreciate. you taking the time. >> My pleasure, Jesse. >> And that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so. much for joining us. And as always,

please subscribe on YouTube, Apple. Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should. get your podcast. You can follow me on. Instagram or X. I'm Jesse Weber. See you. next time. [Music].