Festge County Park Incident

March 16, 2022
Elise Schaffer, PIO, (608) 284-6142

The Dane County Sheriff’s Office is releasing more details related to an October 21, 2021 incident at Festge County Park. Initially, Deputy Sarah Bortz-Rodriguez stated she was attacked in the park by an unknown man with an edged weapon and fired her handgun before he ran away. The Sheriff’s Office staged a large-scale response and alerted the public about the search for an armed man, which went on for several hours. Because Deputy Bortz-Rodriguez stated she fired her weapon, the Department of Justice, Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) was asked to investigate. As is standard after a use of force incident, the Sheriff’s Office conducted their own internal investigation.

 

The Sheriff’s Office held an administrative hearing with Sara Bortz-Rodriguez on November 5, 2021. The Sheriff’s Office investigation concluded that Bortz-Rodriguez had violated Dane County Civil Service Work Rules, as well as the Dane County Sheriff’s Office Code of Conduct. She was officially terminated on November 17, 2021. She was hired by the Sheriff’s Office in May of 2014.

In February of 2022, the Sheriff’s Office was notified that DCI had concluded their investigation and had shared their findings with the Dane County District Attorney’s Office. A decision in that case is pending their review.

“We sympathize with the citizens who live near Festge County Park for the fear and concern this incident caused. We want to assure the citizens of Dane County that we hold our deputies to the highest of standards and consider the public’s trust and safety our priority,” stated Sheriff Kalvin Barrett. “I want to thank DCI for their thorough investigation into this incident.”