After a high-speed chase, sheriff’s deputies rammed Nickolas Peters’ truck off the road east of Lynnwood on Oct. 23, 2018. Peters was shot and killed shortly after. (Campiche Arnold, file)

After a high-speed chase, sheriff’s deputies rammed Nickolas Peters’ truck off the road east of Lynnwood on Oct. 23, 2018. Peters was shot and killed shortly after. (Campiche Arnold, file)

Deputy loses job, a year after fatal shooting of Edmonds man

Art Wallin is no longer a Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy. He’d been on paid leave since October 2018.

EVERETT — A deputy who shot and killed a man last year east of Lynnwood no longer works for the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputy Art Wallin had been on paid administrative leave since October 2018, when he shot and killed Nickolas Peters, 24, of Edmonds, at the end of a pursuit.

The sheriff’s office confirmed Thursday that the deputy had lost his job, but declined to comment further. An attorney representing Wallin did not respond to a phone call or email Friday.

According to the police account of events, Peters did not appear to comply with deputy’s orders after they rammed his pickup off the road the night of Oct. 23, 2018.

Peters’ girlfriend, Britt Jakobsen, later called the orders confusing and conflicting. She was sitting in the passenger seat. They were on their way to her parents’ house in Brier, she said.

In the year since Peters’ death, the shooting has been the subject of a civil lawsuit and an investigation by the Snohomish County Multiple Agency Response Team, a task force of detectives that reviews cases in which police use deadly force.

Snohomish County Prosecutor Adam Cornell declined to press charges against the deputy in July, calling the encounter a “tense, uncertain, rapidly evolving situation.” A jury would be unlikely to convict Wallin, Cornell concluded.

Wallin was on his way to a disturbance call in the 19500 block of Sixth Drive SE, east of Lynnwood, when he attempted to pull over a Ford F-150 pickup leaving the neighborhood. The driver, who turned out to be Peters, sped off and led deputies on a brief but frantic pursuit. Wallin gave chase.

At one point, Wallin appeared to have Peters’ vehicle pinned in, but Peters backed into a retaining wall and sped off. Peters drove west on Filbert, also designated Highway 524, at speeds of more than 100 mph, his truck swerving and running a red light, according to the SMART investigation. Wallin stopped the truck with a PIT maneuver, using his patrol car to strike a back corner of the truck to make it spin out. But Peters regained control and kept going.

“He’s taking off again,” Wallin said on the radio. “He is all over the road. This guy is going to kill someone.”

“We have to take this guy out,” Wallin said seconds later.

A deputy performed another PIT maneuver, causing Peters to spin out off Damson Road, and another patrol car pinned the truck against some bushes.

One deputy jumped on the hood of the truck and shined a flashlight through the windshield, while Wallin positioned himself outside the passenger door.

They shouted commands at Peters, telling him to turn off the truck, open the door and put his hands up, according to an investigative report.

Wallin fired two shots. Both bullets went through Peters’ right arm. One embedded in his ribs, while the other pierced the right lung and landed in the spine.

Wallin declined to speak with detectives investigating the confrontation.

In a civil lawsuit filed in June in U.S. District Court in Seattle, Peters’ family is seeking a jury trial and more than $5 million in damages.

In the complaint, the plaintiffs argue that the sheriff’s office failed to adequately train its deputies to avoid deadly force when unnecessary — despite calls from the public for police to use less lethal alternatives.

“It’s our belief that Nick should have been arrested, not shot,” attorney Jeff Campiche said at a press briefing in June.

In an email, attorneys Campiche and Phil Arnold said the plaintiffs have not received notice that Wallin is no longer with the sheriff’s office.

“If true that Snohomish County Sheriff’s Deputy Wallin was fired,” Arnold wrote, “that is consistent with the evidence that the deadly shooting of Nickolas Peters was unnecessary and unjustified, and Snohomish County has taken proper steps to protect its citizens from officers who shoot to kill without justification.”

Zachariah Bryan: 425-339-3431; zbryan@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @zachariahtb.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

Customers enter and exit the Costco on Dec. 2, 2022, in Lake Stevens. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Costco stores could be impacted by looming truck driver strike threat

Truck drivers who deliver groceries and produce to Costco warehouses… Continue reading

Two Washington State ferries pass along the route between Mukilteo and Clinton as scuba divers swim near the shore Sunday, Oct. 22, 2023, in Mukilteo, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ferry system increases ridership by a half million in 2024

Edmonds-Kingston route remains second-busiest route in the system.

Pharmacist Nisha Mathew prepares a Pfizer COVID booster shot for a patient at Bartell Drugs on Broadway on Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Everett lawmakers back universal health care bill, introduced in Olympia

Proponents say providing health care for all is a “fundamental human right.” Opponents worry about the cost of implementing it.

Outside of the updated section of Lake Stevens High School on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020 in Lake Stevens, Wa. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lake Stevens, Arlington school measures on Feb. 11 ballot

A bond in Lake Stevens and a levy in Arlington would be used to build new schools.

Lake Stevens Sewer District wastewater treatment plant. (Lake Stevens Sewer District)
Lake Stevens sewer district trial delayed until April

The dispute began in 2021 and centers around when the city can take over the district.

Robin Cain with 50 of her marathon medals hanging on a display board she made with her father on Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025 in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Running a marathon is hard. She ran one in every state.

Robin Cain, of Lake Stevens, is one of only a few thousand people to ever achieve the feat.

People line up to grab food at the Everett Recovery Cafe on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Coffee, meals and compassion are free at the Everett Recovery Cafe

The free, membership-based day center offers free coffee and meals and more importantly, camaraderie and recovery support.

Devani Padron, left, Daisy Ramos perform during dance class at Mari's Place Monday afternoon in Everett on July 13, 2016. (Kevin Clark / The Herald)
Mari’s Place helps children build confidence and design a better future

The Everett-based nonprofit offers free and low-cost classes in art, music, theater and dance for children ages 5 to 14.

The Everett Wastewater Treatment Plant along the Snohomish River on Thursday, June 16, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Everett water, sewer rates could jump 43% by 2028

The rate hikes would pay for improvements to the city’s sewer infrastructure.

The bond funded new track and field at Northshore Middle School on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024 in Bothell, Washington. (Courtesy of Northshore School District)
Northshore School District bond improvements underway

The $425 million bond is funding new track and field complexes, playgrounds and phase one of two school replacements.

A salmon carcass lays across willow branches in Edgecomb Creek on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025 in Arlington, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Tribes: State fish passage projects knock down barriers for local efforts

Court-ordered projects have sparked collaboration for salmon habitat restoration

The Everett Municipal Building on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Everett council approves $111 million construction of sewer project

The Port Gardner Storage Facility, in the works for more than a decade, will help prevent overflows of the city sewer system.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.