Kennewick welcomes 2 new officers including the grandson of a former chief

Kennewick’s newest police officers have at least one thing in common — a history being involved in the community.

When Sebastian “Zebbie” Castilleja was 3 years old, he decided he wanted to be a police officer, just like his grandfather, former Prosser Police Chief Ray Cotey.

“I looked up to my grandpa in many ways, and I remember thinking how cool it would be to also become a policeman one day,” Castilleja told the Herald.

As a young man he remembers officers running through his home because of problems his parents had. He told the Yakima Herald in a 2016 story that they struggled with addiction. He remembered a Prosser police sergeant kneeling next to him one night after he watched something traumatic.

Those memories have stayed with him as he worked to join the Kennewick Police Department.

Castilleja graduated from the Washington State Patrol Youth Academy in 2015. Kennewick Police Chief Ken Hohenberg mentored him, and he won the Boys and Girls Club of Washington State Youth of the Year competition in 2016. He dedicated more than 4,000 hours of volunteer work to the club, including coming back as a motivational speaker.

When Kennewick started it’s police cadet program, Castilleja was one of the first four to join.

Now Castilleja, a Washington State University Tri-Cities psychology student, gets to live his dream. On Friday, he became the third new recruit from that first class of police cadets to join the department.

“I keep telling people I have at least 33 years left before I can retire from law enforcement,” Castelleja said. He hopes to move on to become a school resource officer so he can help children the way police officers helped him.

His fellow recruit came to the department through a different path. Aaron Stites, and his wife, Amy, are natives of Kennewick, but have traveled around the world.

For the last nine years, Stites has coached athletes ranging from beginners to professionals. For the last four years, he’s done it through his own company, High Gear Coaching. He also trains people to compete in triathlons.

Stites, who is the father of seven children, earned a bachelors degree in Chinese and Asian studies and a masters degree in exercise physiology from Brigham Young University.

He ran the Indian Summer Half Marathon and 5K race in Richland for six years. He has been a member of the Chinook Cycling Club and Bike Tri-Cities and a Boy Scout troop committee chair and a church volunteer.

He chose to pursue a career in the police department as a way to continue serving the community.

Stites and Castilleja now head to the 19-week police academy in Burien before returning to Kennewick.

This story was originally published December 11, 2018 at 3:02 PM.