JACKSON, Wyo. — Days after the revelation that Teton County Sheriff candidate and current Teton County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Eric Snow had been placed on administrative leave, Snow issued a statement responding to the news.
Snow told Buckrail the length of his suspension is “undetermined.” In the statement he issued, he suggested that the decision to place him on leave was politically motivated.
“Under the current administration, the Office has been weaponized and turned into a political instrument,” Snow’s statement reads. “At every opportunity, the weight of the Sheriff’s Office has been placed behind the incumbent’s campaign. The Sheriff is entrusted with protecting the integrity of the office above personal political ambition. [Teton County Sheriff Matt] Carr has chosen not to meet that standard. Instead, the integrity of the Sheriff’s Office has been compromised.”
Snow goes on to explain that the policy cited to justify the administrative leave was “Fail to Act,” and then gets into some detail about the traffic stop made on Oct. 21 immediately prior to his suspension.
“The Sheriff’s Office claims Deputy Snow failed to act by not conducting a full DUI investigation while arresting the driver on a separate release-order violation,” he writes. “‘Fail to Act’ is intended for critical failures — such as a deputy standing by while a partner is in a physical fight, or deliberately avoiding a major call. In the situation for which Deputy Snow was suspended, a true failure to act would have been ignoring a vehicle passing his patrol unit at high speed and doing nothing. Deputy Snow observed the speeding violation, conducted the traffic stop, and resolved the matter by arresting the driver on the release-order violation. That path offered the stronger legal foundation because it is clear-cut and leaves no room for later interpretive challenges or dismissal by the County Attorney.”
Sheriff Carr, running against Snow in the Nov. 3 election, previously told media outlets he did not participate in the decision to suspend Deputy Snow because of the election. Carr and Snow are joined on the ballot by Independent candidate Chris Glenn. Early voting is now open.
