Grant County District Attorney Jim Carpenter, left, and Sheriff Glenn Palmer pose for a photograph when Palmer received his deputy medical examiner certificate in 2015.

Grant County District Attorney Jim Carpenter said he was not consulted about the sheriff’s tort claim against John Day and did not personally feel threatened when the two traveled together to a roadblock after the law enforcement action against the refuge occupation leaders Jan. 26.

Sheriff Glenn Palmer recently served the tort claim notice required before suing a public body to the city of John Day, claiming among other things that actions by city dispatchers “knowingly and recklessly” endangered him and Carpenter.

The district attorney, however, said in an email he never felt uncomfortable.

“I was not consulted regarding a tort claim, nor will I be part of it with regard to questions about my personal safety,” he said.

The notice cites a complaint filed against Palmer by dispatch manager Valerie Luttrell, in which she states dispatchers believed Palmer may have been traveling with a refuge occupier to an Oregon State Police roadblock near Seneca and “were so concerned that we sent a message to OSP troops notifying them that he was enroute to their location with what we thought might be a militia member.”

Palmer requested an update on the situation from a dispatcher while en route, but the dispatcher did not provide him with the information, according to both Luttrell’s complaint and Palmer’s tort notice. The notice states this led officers at the roadblock to be “under the false impression that a militia member was riding with Palmer.”

Carpenter said the officers were “alert and cautious” when he approached, as he expected them to be, but he never felt threatened.

“At no time did I perceive that I was in danger at the roadblock on Jan. 26,” he said. “… Once I was identified, I was able to walk among them, ask questions, share information and talk freely with them.”

Carpenter said he did not have the necessary information to comment about the rest of Palmer’s tort notice. He also said he never believed they were headed to meet any occupiers, nor did Palmer “make any statements in my presence in support of them.”

Read the original story about Palmer’s tort claim notice to the city of John Day here.