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SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — A Spokane County sheriff's deputy who was cleared in the fatal 2010 shooting of a Spokane Valley pastor has been fired for improperly using county-owned vehicles.
The sheriff's office announced the termination of Deputy Brian Hirzel on Wednesday.
The Spokesman-Review reports (http://is.gd/7THv22) that Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich says Hirzel was driving his patrol car to and from his home in Hayden, Idaho, without permission.
The deputy was suspended for one shift last year for the same violation.
Hirzel has filed a grievance related to the termination.
County prosecutors cleared Hirzel of any wrongdoing in the August 2010 shooting of the Rev. Wayne Scott Creach. The county paid Creach's survivors $2 million as part of an out-of-court settlement in 2013.
Hired by the Spokane County sheriff's office in 2008, Hirzel previously worked as a Kootenai County, Idaho, sheriff's deputy for three years.
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Information from: The Spokesman-Review, http://www.spokesman.com
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