San Juan County Sheriff outraged over ferry captain comment

San Juan County Sheriff outraged over ferry captain comment | FOX 13 Seattle

"It came across as a threat of, well your interisland transportation isn’t going to run," Peter said. "I was just stunned and outraged." He told FOX 13; he's even more shocked because Brant was in court dressed in his Washington State Ferries uniform.

SAN JUAN COUNTY, Wash. - The San Juan County sheriff is calling a comment made by a Washington State Ferries captain "inappropriate."

Last month, Interisland Ferry Captain Albert Brant was given an opportunity to address the court regarding conditions of his son’s release. His son appeared in court on multiple charges related to child pornography. During that hearing, Brant said having his son in a jail that’s not in the county where he lives would create a hardship for him.

"If he’s going to be in Island, or Skagit, County you understand what a ferry ride takes to get over there and back and it would take me out of a day of work," Brant is heard saying in the court’s audio recording. "If I’m not working, the ferry is not running here okay."

San Juan County Sheriff Eric Peter called that comment egregious and inappropriate.

"It came across as a threat of, well your interisland transportation isn’t going to run," Peter said. "I was just stunned and outraged."

He told FOX 13; he's even more shocked because Brant was in court dressed in his Washington State Ferries uniform.

WSF Inter-Island Captain Albert Brant

"If one of our employees showed up in uniform and represented themselves as being from our agency and made comments like that, that would be dealt with swiftly," Peter said.

He reached out to Washington State Ferries after hearing that audio.

"They apologized and said they were starting an investigation," Peter said. He stressed this is not a shot at WSDOT or the ferries, but rather Brant. "It’s just not right to go make comments like this and have our community worried that our interisland boat is not going to run effectively," Peter said.

FOX 13 reached out to Washington State Ferries. They sent us this statement which said: ‘Washington State Ferries is conducting a formal investigation into the matter. Please be assured that WSF is taking the matter seriously.’

"All we want is for our community members to be able to move around without fear of our service possibly being disrupted by what appears to be a vendetta or a veiled threat of one individual," Peter said.

At that hearing, the judge reduced Brant’s son’s bond from $500,000 to $250,000. He was transported to Skagit county and later posted bail, Peter said.

FOX 13 also reached out to Brant, but he declined to comment.