Jailed Kennewick detective charged with assault on wife and son. Bail set at $25K
A Kennewick detective is expected to leave jail this week, but won’t be going free.
Joshua Riley, 42, is heading straight into alcohol and mental health treatment once he’s secured the $25,000 bail set by Judge Jackie Shea Brown during a Wednesday morning hearing.
According to court documents, Riley has struggled with suicidal thoughts and alcoholism because of his time serving in the military and his years working as a police officer.
Riley, an 11-year veteran of the Kennewick Police Department, was being held in the Franklin County jail on suspicion of second-degree assault after allegedly threatening his wife and teenage son with a handgun after a night of drinking.
Special Deputy Prosecutor Peter Palubicki filed the officials charges on Wednesday afternoon. Palubicki works for the Adams County Prosecutor’s Office, which agreed to handle the case for Benton County to avoid any conflicts with future cases that Riley is involved in as a police officer.
In addition to posting bail, Riley must wear alcohol monitoring and GPS devices, attorneys said Wednesday.
Shea Brown raised concerns that the GPS device wouldn’t be sufficient to make sure that Riley would stay in treatment.
She did not say during the hearing why she was concerned. But Shea Brown was the judge who signed a recent 48-hour furlough for a Franklin County inmate, who slipped out of his GPS monitor last week and was missing for a couple days.
The 37-year-old man had pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and didn’t report back to jail to serve his sentence. Pasco police found and arrested him two days after he was supposed to return.
Defense Attorney Mitchell Crook said in Riley’s case, he doesn’t have any criminal history, and he served in the military and as a police officer.
“There are definitely some concerns here that can’t be addressed in jail that we’ll be able to address at inpatient treatment,” he told the judge.
Three Kennewick police officers are expected to take Riley from jail straight to treatment, Crook said.
Shea Brown also was worried about Riley’s safety and asked whether the people bringing him to treatment would be armed.
“I assure you we are working with detectives in this matter,” Crook said. “They’re willing to do whatever it takes to get him to that inpatient facility. So if that means no firearms whatsoever that’s something I can represent to the court, that they will not have those firearms.”
The judge also wanted to make sure that the treatment facility would make daily reports to the court that he is still there.
She said she wanted to make sure he has the support he needs and trusted the court orders to stop him from contacting his wife and children.
Another hearing is set on Friday to confirm that the treatment facility can make the daily reports to court officials.
Assault investigation
The affidavit of probable cause filed in court said Riley’s wife told investigators that he suffers from alcoholism and suicidal thoughts after serving three tours in Iraq and then years in law enforcement.
His drinking on Saturday night turned into an argument with his wife and accusations that she was cheating on him.
According to his teen son, he was so intoxicated that he could barely stand.
At one point, he tried to leave the house, but was stopped at the door by the teen, according to the affidavit. After his son went to the bedroom door to talk with his mother, Riley came in and allegedly pointed a gun and laser sight at his wife. He also pointed the gun at his son’s head, said the affidavit.
His wife was able to get the gun away and hide it.
While Riley was asleep, his children left the house and went to a friend’s home where they told an adult that their father had pulled a gun on them, and the police were called.
