The driver’s license thing is misleading - he had an Arizona license, so “didn’t have a Washington license”, but was still legal to drive.

The department is legally not able to issue any discipline until the investigation concludes, and they are not able to conclude the investigation while the appeals process on the fine plays out. Due process is slow. Hopefully in the end he gets everything coming to him.

Unfortunately, the alternate option was not “let them stay hostage a while longer”. It was “let the hostages die”. And maybe that would have been the more ethical call. But let’s not delude ourselves that they could have been kept alive any other way.