SPOKANE COUNTY, Wash. – The manhunt for Western State Hospital escapee Anthony Garver required a lot of time and resources from the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office. Those costs quickly add up, and to recoup some of that money Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich is now hoping to hold the state accountable.
By some estimates the cost of the manhunt could be tens of thousands of dollars.
“We had SWAT team, we had the helicopter, there were a lot of resources that were used to bring him into custody,” Knezovich said.
He said they are compiling a costs of the operation and will send the bill to Governor Jay Inslee.
Garver was found on Friday night hiding under a pile of debris in a wooded area near East Judkins Road around 8:15 p.m. Knezovich said it was "good old fashioned police work" that led to Garver's capture.
Knezovich insists that the state was negligent for Garver’s escape, so they should be the one to pay up.
“They shouldn’t have allowed him to have any access to where he couldn’t walk away,” he said.
The sheriff said the costs will be high also because of the astronomical overtime costs for everyone involved.
“We devoted as much as we could put into this,” he said.
KREM 2 On Your Side learned just house exhaustive the sheriff’s office efforts really were. Authorities said this was one of the rare occasions where it was literally all hands on deck.
Virtually every deputy was assigned to the manhunt, so many that even off-duty deputies were called in to help out.
“We drained our entire investigative unit,” Knezovich said.
Sheriff’s workers said there is a specific budget for overtime spending, but it is too soon to tell if the manhunt will cause them to go over budget.
As exact figures are worked out, Knezovich said he is still outraged the case even happened at all.
“This individual should have been in a maximum secured area, not minimum secured,” he said, “he’s proven many times he’s able to escape and stay gone.”