Deputy Dom Calata
Officer: Pierce County Sheriff's Department, Deputy Sheriff Dominique Calata
Date: 3/16/2022 Location: Spanaway, WA FACTORS (1,2,5,15,17,21)
Perpetrator(s) Involved: Jeremy Darryl Dayton
Criminal Activity History/Involved: Yes, Dayton was a career violent criminal with “nine felony charges and five misdemeanors under his belt, including unlawful possession of a firearm, assault, domestic violence robbery and drug charges.” / Yes, Dayton was being served an arrest warrant for a second-degree assault during which he beat a smaller, elderly male almost to death, fracturing his cheek and giving him a brain bleed.
Mental Illness: None stated, but his wife believes Dayton chose to die in a shootout with the police rather than face life imprisonment. As a “persistent offender”, if Dayton was found guilty of his current assault charge he was going to “prison without the possibility of parole.”
Substance Abuse History/Involved: Yes, he has prior drug-related arrests and his wife said drugs have changed him. / None stated.
Race/Sex/Age: White/Male/40
What prompted the initial contact with the killer? Around noon on March 15, 2022, the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department SWAT Team assisted the South Sound Gang Task Force with a second-degree assault arrest warrant for Jeremy Dayton.
Actions taken by subject toward police: While the officers were still outside, Dayton opened fire on them from within his trailer home, seriously injuring Sgt. Rich Scaniffe and killing Deputy Dom Calata.
Reactions by the police: The deputies returned fire and killed Dayton.
How murdered? Deputy Calata was fatally shot while serving an arrest warrant.
What could have been done differently for the officer to still be alive? NA, the deputies were serving a warrant on a known violent subject with a history of weapons and were shot before they even had a chance to see the subject or make entry into his trailer.
Would the officer have been justified to use deadly force before being murdered? No, the officers were shot at by Dayton through his trailer before they had a reasonable cause to believe their lives were in danger.
Outcome for the cop-killer: Dayton was justifiably shot dead by the other deputies.
Miscellaneous: Dayton was “wanted for jumping bail on a $200,000 bond and failing to appear for a March 7 trial” stemming from the February 2021 second-degree assault charge – a dangerous persistent offender who was looking at life without parole should never have been given bail nor been free to hurt another person.
