A former Tukwila police officer – once fired from the job for repeated use of excessive force – recently got a second chance to work as a cop in the small Thurston County city of Tenino. Officer Christopher Backus passed a background check before Tenino hired him last summer. But it’s unlikely city leaders found any record of his troubled past because he and his former employer made a deal to keep it a secret, a KING 5 investigation found. Over the course of Backus’ three-year career as a Tukwila cop, city records show he was the subject of at least four internal probes where police brass concluded he violated department policies. Tukwila police investigators determined Backus falsified reports, failed to report the use of force and showed a pattern of using a taser or threatening to use one when it wasn’t warranted, according to disciplinary records. Read the full story here: https://www.king5.com/article/news/investigations/tukwila-former-officer-cover-up-investigation/281-b9230937-f175-4795-985d-51e52809a2be