OSAGE BEACH, Mo. (AP) - A Missouri Highway Patrol officer on Tuesday told state lawmakers reviewing the agency that trooper training was "deficient" before the May drowning of a man in trooper custody.
Patrol Sgt. Randy Henry was among several current and former troopers who explained how training changed after the 2011 merger of the Highway Patrol and the Missouri Water Patrol. Gov. Jay Nixon merged the agencies hoping to save an estimated $3 million a year, but the May 31 drowning of a 20-year-old student has led lawmakers to question whether the merger hurt troopers' ability to protect the public.
"It is obvious that the training that occurred before May 31, 2014, was deficient," Henry said. "That is not an excuse for poor judgment."
Brandon Ellingson went into the water of the Lake of the Ozarks after Trooper Anthony Piercy arrested him for drunken boating and handcuffed him. Ellingson was wearing a life vest with arm holes that could not be fastened on a person wearing handcuffs, and the vest slipped off.
Prosecutors did not press charges against Piercy in Ellingson's death. The Kansas City Star has reported that the trooper testified that he did not have proper training to handle that situation on a lake.
House Speaker Tim Jones later created an eight-member committee of representatives to review management and trooper training since the merger.
Other Highway Patrol officials have defended the merger, saying it helped increase the patrol's manpower in responding to natural disasters and incidences such as the sometimes violent protests after an unarmed 18-year-old was fatally shot in August by a Ferguson police officer.
The committee did not specifically address the drowning during either an initial hearing held Oct. 1 at the Capitol or during Tuesday's hearing, which was held in the Osage Beach City Hall near the Lake of the Ozarks.
Still, Ellingson's father and a handful of supporters tried to remind them.
Demonstrators from Missouri and Iowa stood outside the building in a light rain holding signs, and a woman from Lake Ozark wore a black shirt that read, "Training. Accountability. Justice. Nothing less."
A Columbia man wore a life vest and handcuffs. A piece of paper on his vest read "This is Brandon."