Judge strips cop's gun after he allegedly threatened to kill self, ex-girlfriend
A Seattle police officer is under investigation for allegedly pointing a gun at his former partner and threatening to kill her last May. Pierce County granted Ofc. Justin Fermaint’s ex-girlfriend a protective order and ordered him to surrender his weapon in November, according to court documents.
In her declaration, Fermaint’s ex-girlfriend said he demonstrated a pattern of “violent behavior” that culminated in an incident last summer when she attempted to end the relationship. Believing Fermaint was unfaithful, the woman decided to break up with him while on a trip to Oregon. Fermaint pleaded to get back together and became “increasingly aggressive,” the woman wrote.
The woman said that Fermaint took her phone and repeatedly interrogated her about cheating. When they returned to the apartment in Tacoma they shared, Fermaint allegedly followed her around screaming accusations, according to her declaration.
She locked herself in the bedroom and tried to go to sleep, but Fermaint allegedly broke in, carrying a gun, the woman wrote. The woman claims that Fermaint told her that he would kill himself and she “was going to have to clean up his body.” According to her declaration, Fermaint allegedly pointed the gun at her and threatened to kill her.
After Fermaint lowered the weapon, the woman locked herself in the bathroom, she wrote. She remained in there for “over an hour” and claims Fermaint continued yelling at and threatening her. According to the statement, when things “settled down,” she left the apartment to sleep in her car up the street.
She went to work the next day and told her boss what happened. The woman also called her brother, who submitted a declaration in support of the protective order.
In his statement to a court-appointed therapist, Fermaint admitted taking her phone and accusing her of cheating but denied ever pointing a gun or breaking the door. He said that she locked herself in the bathroom and ultimately left the apartment, then returned at 5 a.m. and went to work “like nothing happened.”
The woman returned to Alabama to stay with her family and initiated a protective order, claiming that Fermaint was surveilling and harassing her by monitoring their shared phone bill.
In a legal filing, Fermaint’s lawyer produced a Facebook message from the woman’s account to his mother that bragged about fabricating the allegations to win custody. The woman told the court that Fermaint had accessed her social media accounts and posted several messages across various platforms to discredit her.
She wrote in her declaration that expert testimony would demonstrate the messages were sent from Tacoma while she was in Alabama. The courts in Pierce County and Alabama both sided with her. Pierce County repeatedly rejected motions to dismiss or amend the protective order to allow Fermaint to carry a firearm.
Since the original petition was filed in September, Fermaint has been on paid administrative leave pending an investigation by the Office of Police Accountability.
Fermaint has worked at the Seattle Police Department for around three years and made $137,119 in 2023.