Thurston County Sheriff Derek Sanders issued an apology Friday for his involvement in an online spat with Pierce County Sheriff Keith Swank.
Sanders and Swank exchanged insults in the comments section of a post Sanders made to his Facebook page on Jan. 8.
In the post, Sanders commented on footage of a U.S. Immigration and Customs (ICE) agent killing Renee Nicole Good, 37, in Minnesota on Jan. 7.
Sanders condemned the tactics shown in the footage and referenced a post made by Swank about the incident the day prior, saying he found it “disturbing that we have an elected sheriff in our state mocking Renee’s death on social media.”
Swank responded in the comments of the post, and a back-and-forth exchange between the two sheriffs quickly devolved into personal insults.
“I would like to apologize to citizens of both Thurston County and Pierce County and the employees of their respective Sheriff’s Offices. I recently engaged in an online encounter with the Sheriff of Pierce County that didn’t warrant a response, and I failed to meet the expectations I’ve set for myself,” Sanders wrote in his apology posted Jan. 9.
“I am extremely passionate about law enforcement and creating a work product that results in positive outcomes made possible by the citizens of our county and the employees of TCSO. I know I let both groups down last night by saying what felt good in the moment instead of doing what was best for everyone else. It was selfish, and I’ll do better.”
Sanders clarified in the comments of his apology post that he was not apologizing for his original post, “Just the unnecessary banter with that individual in the comments.”
Swank has not publicly commented on his exchange with Sanders, but has made several more posts to his X account since Jan. 7 regarding ICE and Good’s death.
Swank is known for his divisive online presence. As of September 2025, he was the subject of three ongoing certification cases from the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission. At least one of those complaints was related to his social media activity, according to reporting by various news outlets.
The Thurston Chronicle’s article on the dispute can be read online at https://tinyurl.com/2jvydvmb.
