A retired sergeant who spoke out after a handcuffed Iowa man drowned is suing three Missouri Highway Patrol officials, saying they conspired against him and forced him to retire early.
The Kansas City Star reports that Randy Henry filed the lawsuit Thursday.
Twenty-year-old Brandon Ellingson was arrested in 2014 on the Lake of the Ozarks on suspicion of boating while intoxicated. While being transported, he tumbled into the water wearing an improperly secured life vest and drowned.
Henry says he was instructed to tell a legislative committee that trooper training had been sufficient before Ellingson's drowning. Henry said he "wasn't going to lie for anyone."
Henry was eventually moved from Lake of the Ozarks and demoted. He retired before the demotion took effect.
Spokesman Lt. Paul Reinsch says the agency doesn't comment on pending litigation.
