Top officials of the Arizona Department of Public Safety recommended a detective assigned to the agency’s Border Strike Force be fired after the FBI brought to light several threatening online comments by the detective, but he resigned first, according to public records.
Ashton Shewey joined DPS in May 2015 after working as a deputy sheriff in Pinal County. He came to the attention of DPS Internal Affairs in early November 2021 after the FBI shared information about “inappropriate, threatening, and racial” commentary posted last summer to 11 videos via Shewey’s YouTube account.
The videos were political in nature, including some with anti-police themes.
“I say we kidnap and torture them,” Shewey commented to a political video featuring entertainers Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom. A video about Dr. Anthony Fauci contained the comment “Hang this little m***** f*****.”
And in response to a video about the NFL’s support for people killed in police shootings, Shewey commented “Let’s capture and kill all the NFL execs. Make a bold statement. They won’t do it again.”
During his IA interview, Shewey did not deny writing the comments posted under his account. However, he did not recall writing every one of the comments, explaining that some were likely posted after he consumed alcohol.
“He claimed the comments were not meant to be threatening or racially motivated,” the IA report states. “Detective Shewey said the comments were made out of frustration due to personal, work, social, and political reasons.”
Shewey also told the investigator he was “a good cop” but admitted his wife previously asked him to seek help for “a lot of things, one of them is drinking,” the report states.
“I’m not a racist. I don’t hate, I would never act on any of this stuff. It’s a frustration; a release of my anger,” Shewey said during the interview.
On Nov. 10, the IA investigator submitted a report to DPS Director Col. Heston Silbert finding sufficient evidence that Shewey violated two DPS policies: Conduct adverse to the Department or employee and Prejudicial behavior or racial bias. Shewey resigned the same day.
Seven DPS officials eventually signed off on a Disciplinary Action form recommending Shewey’s termination. The last signature was affixed Jan. 14, more than two months after Shewey quit his job.
But the resignation is not the end of the matter for Shewey or any prosecutor who relied on the detective’s testimony to secure a conviction in court.
The internal affairs report has been submitted to the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training (AZPOST) board which certifies peace officers in the state. A compliance review is underway and the board could act against Shewey’s certification in the next few months.
Shewey’s online activities also qualify of “Brady material,” according to DPS documents. In 1963, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Brady v. Maryland that misconduct, credibility, or honesty issues involving a law enforcement officer can sometimes be presented to a jury to challenge the testimony of the officer.
The detective’s comments might be used in under certain circumstances to reopen a defendant’s recent conviction. Such a decision would be left up to the judge in each case.
In 2016, Shewey received media attention after rescuing two missing Louisiana children during a traffic stop on Interstate 10 near Eloy.
The young children were in the vehicle with their mother and her boyfriend, both of whom were wanted in connection with several armed bank robberies in Louisiana. The boyfriend had also been recently convicted of manslaughter.
