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‘We’re not robots’: Sheriff’s deputy retiring due to mental trauma urges support for police

By Mark Shenefelt - | Jul 8, 2021
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Weber County Sheriff's Deputy Jared Ortgiesen teaches the N.O.V.A. class at Uintah Elementary School on Monday, May 7, 2018. In July 2021, Ortgiesen said he decided to retire after mental trauma following a man pointing a rifle at him in 2020. Ortgiesen fired at the man, wounding him.
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Ritchey
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Ortgiesen

OGDEN — When the man pointed a rifle at him, Jared Ortgiesen didn’t know it would mean the end of his law enforcement career.

But that’s how it has turned out. In court last week, testifying at the sentencing of that gunman, Ortgiesen said the trauma of the event has pushed him into retirement.

Ortgiesen, a 20-year veteran Weber County sheriff’s deputy, fired several shots at Daniel A. Ritchey in that March 13, 2020, confrontation in Washington Terrace. Ritchey was hit in the hand and arrested.

“Because of his decisions, he put me in the position where I had to take action,” Ortgiesen said in 2nd District Court on June 30, according to an audio recording of the sentencing. “I have had some mental trauma. I thought I would be able to handle this, and I’m finding that I can’t. I’m eligible to retire this week, and because of this, I’m out.”

In an interview Tuesday, Ortgiesen said the incident further drove home for him a modern reality, that many people don’t respect police officers and that lawbreakers won’t take responsibility for their criminal actions.

“Now with this incident and the current political situation and everything going on, it’s just not worth it,” Ortgiesen said. “We don’t get into this job for the money. It’s a sense of duty. We know it’s a thankless job, but we’re at a point where everything is my fault. No one wants to be accountable for their actions anymore.”

‘I WILL RUN IN TO SAVE YOU’

Ritchey assaulted his mother, left and, after sheriff’s deputies talked to the woman and then went looking for Ritchey, returned to the home and again confronted his mother.

Ortgiesen said he knew she was in danger because the 30-year-old Ritchey had assaulted her earlier, so he entered the home. Ritchey came around a corner where his mother was standing and raised a rifle to point at Ortgiesen.

“I didn’t even know if I was going to kill her son because he was going to shoot her,” Ortgiesen said. “I put myself in where he could have shot me.”

He summed up his police philosophy in such situations: “I don’t know you, but I will run in to save you.”

Weber County prosecutors charged Ritchey with second-degree felony assault against a police officer and misdemeanor counts of assault and criminal mischief.

He agreed to a plea bargain in February, admitting to third-degree felony attempted assault on a police officer and the other charges were dismissed.

Ritchey was able to enroll in Odyssey House substance abuse and mental health treatment pending sentencing, and at sentencing his attorney, Rakay Michael, argued against a prison sentence. She said Ritchey cannot read or write but has made remarkable progress in treatment, and his mother has agreed that he could live with her if he is granted probation.

Ortgiesen was aghast at the possibility Ritchey might not do prison time.

“His mother thinks she wants to help him, but she can’t forget that the whole reason we were there is because he went and beat up his mom while she had the phone because she was buying shoes for his son,” the deputy said in court.

‘DREAMS ABOUT SHOOTING PEOPLE’

Since the shooting, Ortgiesen said he has suffered mental trauma that he has not been able to shake.

“I’ve had dreams about shooting people or about being shot or recreating this situation in my head and not being able to take any action,” he said.

Mental health of police officers needs to be addressed more, he said in the interview.

In court, he implored Judge Cristina Ortega to “realize that we should not stand for people attacking police officers. Don’t let him get away with the actions he chose.”

Branden Miles, chief criminal prosecutor in the Weber County Attorney’s Office, told the court that domestic violence incidents affecting police are all too common. Just that day, a man had held off police in South Ogden with fusillades of gunfire, he said, and he mentioned the death of an Ogden police officer on a domestic violence call in May 2020.

Ritchey has a history of assaults and failed treatment programs and he flunked out of drug court just three months before the shooting, Miles said.

“It’s not like we have not tried to help him,” Miles said. “He simply refuses and continues to escalate.”

Miles and Ortega credited Ritchey for the progress he has made at Odyssey House. But in passing sentence, the judge too referred to Ritchey’s ever more dangerous behavior over the years.

“You not only put your mother at risk and yourself at risk, but the deputy was at risk, and the impacts have been tremendous for him,” Ortega told Ritchey. She said his escalated behavior “stands out dramatically” and demonstrates to her that he is a danger to the community.

She sentenced him to one to 10 years at the Utah State Prison and urged him to retain the tools he has been acquiring at Odyssey House for use when he gets out. “Because you will need them,” she said.

‘ALWAYS GOING TO BE A COP’

Ortgiesen, 41, is a Bonneville High School graduate who has spent most of his career with the sheriff’s office.

“I was always going to be a cop, as long as I can remember,” he said. Asked what he’ll do now, he said “anything but being a cop.” He’s a woodworking hobbyist, so maybe he’ll try to build a business from that. He’s found peace and stress relief there.

For police today, he said, “everybody is mad and there is no winning.” It’s no surprise, therefore, that police agencies are in constant recruiting mode to replace the disaffected.

He said he feels for new police officers and what their careers might bring. “I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like,” he said.

“There are still good people out there willing to sacrifice their lives for this community,” Ortgiesen said. “We’re not robots. We’re human beings with families, brothers, sisters and parents. But when we are on shift, we make your family, not mine, the priority, every day. That’s what takes a mental toll on us.”

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