Today we honor Spokane County Sheriff’s Deputies Parker Perry and Mason Acheson — two men who answered the call on Tuesday, November 3, and did not come home. Both were part of the SWAT team that responded to a home on S. Smythe Road near Spangle, where a family was in desperate trouble. Fearing for the lives of people still inside, they moved toward the danger rather than away from it. Across Washington, officers have since pinned black bands across their badges, and the flag outside the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office now flies at half-staff.
Both men wore their country’s uniform before they ever wore a badge. Deputy Perry served as an intelligence officer with the Army National Guard and had been with the sheriff’s office for nearly seven years, most recently as a K9 handler working alongside his partner Brego. Deputy Acheson is a sergeant and trained sniper with the Washington Army National Guard’s 3rd Battalion, 161st Infantry Regiment — born in Leavenworth, raised near Colville, and a firearms instructor who came to the sheriff’s office in 2022 after serving with the Washington State Patrol. One of them, in his final act of service, chose to be an organ donor so that other families might be spared the grief his own is carrying now.
Both deputies leave behind young children. “It was a very tragic day in Spokane County,” Sheriff John Nowels said. “A lot of families have been affected.” The sheriff’s office has asked the community to help with funeral expenses — donations can be made to the SCOPE/SCSO Memorial Fund at any Canopy Credit Union branch, dropped off at the sheriff’s office.
Rest easy, Deputy Perry. Rest easy, Deputy Acheson. 
