The man who wants to be Washington’s first Republican governor in 40 years was once so careless with his law enforcement-issued revolver that it wasn’t returned until after he was arrested for felony gun theft.
Misipati “Semi” Bird, who had previously served seven years as a U.S. Marine, misplaced the gun twice during the few months in the 1990s when he worked as a reserve deputy for the Yakima County Sheriff’s Office.
The first time, the loaded .357 Smith and Wesson along with some sheriff’s office keys were left inside his personal car when it was repossessed in Sunnyside.
The second time, Bird didn’t return the county’s gun and two uniforms after he left the department. It took more than 17 months for sheriff’s officials to track him down and to get the revolver back, show police and court records obtained by the Tri-City Herald under Washington’s Public Records Act.
Bird says it was all a misunderstanding.
But the records show that Yakima and Benton county officials were clearly frustrated in 1995 and 1996 when he didn’t know exactly where the gun was and didn’t seem concerned about finding and returning it.