Slain Officer Was Former Prosecutor

A King County Sheriff's Deputy who was shot and killed on the job early Saturday morning began his career as a prosecutor. Slain deputy had become White Center's "Superman", Seattle Times, Dec. 3, 2006. A graduate of Willamette law school, Steve Cox prosecuted "high-profile murder and gang cases in Pasco" (Franklin County) in the 1990s. Franklin County Prosecutor Steve Lowe recalled that Cox talked with him about his misgivings about the legal system:

"It's not a perfect system, and sometimes we lose cases because of technicalities. That really, really bothered him," Lowe said. "He made it clear that his goal in life was to go back and be a patrol officer. He was frustrated with what is frankly an imperfect system, and he wanted to always help people and make the community safer. He felt he could do that better back in law enforcement."

He worked briefly for the King County Prosecutor's Office before joining the Sheriff's Office in 1997.