Benton Co. commissioner charged with felony after traffic confrontation
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- Benton County commissioner faces felony charges for allegedly stealing phone.
- Incident stems from Oct. 18 parking-lot confrontation at Kennewick Gold’s Gym.
- State Attorney General took over prosecution due to local conflict of interest.
A Benton County commissioner is facing a felony charge after allegedly stealing a man’s cellphone so he could delete a video during a traffic confrontation.
Will D. McKay Jr., 45, was charged with felony first-degree theft and fourth-degree assault and lying to police, both gross misdemeanors, in connection with an Oct. 18 confrontation in the Gold’s Gym parking lot in Kennewick.
McKay is scheduled to enter a plea to the charges on Jan. 14. Yakima County judges previously agreed to handle McKay’s case, because it cannot be heard by a local judge due to his position.
The Washington State Attorney General’s Office filed the charges on New Year’s Eve, after agreeing to take over the case from the Benton County Prosecutor’s Office because of the legal conflict of interest.
McKay has been a member of the three-person commission since winning election in 2020. The commissioners are the county’s legislative authority and control the county’s budget.
As part of that role, McKay is responsible for approving budgets for both the Superior Court and the offices of elected officials like the prosecutor.
McKay doesn’t have an attorney listed. He was represented by Nicholas Jones at this first appearance in October. The Tri-City Herald has reached out to Jones’ office for comment.
Gold’s Gym Confrontation
McKay and another driver allegedly crossed paths near the intersection of West 27th Avenue and South Union Street about 11 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 18.
McKay told investigators that he saw the driver of a Mini Cooper “driving erratically” and “flipping people off” near the roundabout, court documents said.
The Mini Cooper’s driver also reported seeing the Dodge Ram that McKay was driving, but didn’t know why McKay followed him two miles on Highway 395 to the Gold’s Gym parking lot where they both turned in.
Once they were parked, the Mini-Cooper’s driver was worried about the truck’s driver, “so he decided to exit from his vehicle and begin recording the Ram and its driver,” court documents said.
Security footage from the parking lot showed McKay confronted the man, court documents said.
He allegedly grabbed for the cellphone, and when the other man turned away from McKay, the commissioner allegedly “bear hugged” him and pinned the other man’s arms against his body and took the phone away.
The Mini Cooper’s driver demanded his phone back, but McKay allegedly refused. Instead, McKay deleted the video, court documents said.
A witness also saw the confrontation and said it allegedly took about 10 minutes for McKay to give back the phone, and he only returned it after the witness said she was calling the police.
After deleting the video, McKay gave the phone back and drove away before police arrived.
Investigators linked the rented Dodge Ram to McKay and called him. The commissioner agreed to come to the police station to talk to police, court documents said.
He denied touching the other man and said the other driver was the aggressor, the documents said.
When McKay was arrested, he allegedly said “If I knew it was a crime to take this phone, I wouldn’t have done it,” court documents said.