Benton County coroner to call it quits

Benton County's coroner is not running for re-election after eight years in office.

John Hansens said he wants to turn over the office to Deputy Coroner Bill Leach, who's worked with him for the past five years.

A coroner is a county's chief death investigator.

Hansens had a 32-year career with the Richland Police Department before he was elected coroner in 2010.

He told the Herald he's looking forward to not having to carry a cellphone and pager.

"There is some travel in my future," Hansens, 63, said. "I'm going to try to retire. I think it's going to last for 30 days, and then I'm going to become bored and begin to look for places to volunteer."

Hansens first ran for the coroner's office in 2006, but lost to Rick Corson. Hansens won in the next election, when Corson retired.

He ran unopposed in 2014.

For Hansens, it's important to pass the office to someone ready to take over, and he said he endorsed Leach for the job.

"I think it's going to work out real well," he said.

Leach, a registered death investigator, joined the coroner's office after a 15-year career in with the West Richland Police Department.

He also is a fire investigator with Benton County Fire District 4.

This story was originally published May 17, 2018 at 4:26 PM with the headline "Benton County coroner to call it quits."