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.
Randy Henry, of Rocky Mount, filed the lawsuit Thursday in the Jefferson City division of the U.S. District Court for Western Missouri.
The 26-page lawsuit, filed by St. Louis County attorney Jonathan C. (J.C.) Pleban, names Patrol Superintendent J. Bret Johnson, Capt. Corey Schoeneberg and Cpl. Stacey Mosher as defendants - and says all are sued only as individuals.
Pleban's father, C. John "Chet" Pleban, represented Henry last year in a planned disciplinary hearing challenging the Patrol's plans to demote Henry from sergeant to corporal.
J.C. Pleban told the News Tribune on Friday their entire law firm will be representing Henry. In the new lawsuit, Henry notes he was a Water Patrol officer until that service was merged with the Highway Patrol.
"Henry served his entire career patrolling the water at the Lake of the Ozarks until he was forced to retire (constructively discharged)," his lawsuit explained. "He is an experienced water patrol officer."
He reported his troubles began on May 31, 2014, when Brandon Ellingson, 20 - an Arizona State University student from Clive, Iowa - was arrested by Trooper Anthony Piercy on a boating-while-intoxicated charge. Ellingson fell from Piercy's boat while being taken to a station for a breath test.
He drowned after he had been handcuffed, and the life vest Piercy had put on him - reportedly improperly - came off while Ellingson was in the water.
Piercy has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in Morgan County.
He has pleaded not guilty, and his trial has not yet been scheduled, after Special Prosecutor William Camm Seay won a motion for a change of judge earlier this year.
The new, federal lawsuit said Henry informed investigators what Piercy had told him about the incident shortly after it happened, but that version differed from the account Piercy gave to investigators.
The lawsuit also said Henry was told not to prepare a report of his conversation with Piercy.
And, as he has said before, Henry said in the lawsuit he believes the Patrol was attempting to cover up the circumstances of the drowning.
On July 27, U.S. District Judge Nanette K. Laughrey ruled the Ellingson family's lawyers failed to prove 11 commanders and Patrol officials conspired to cover up the cause of Ellingson's May 2014 death - so all counts against individual commanders have been dismissed and won't proceed to trial, scheduled next month in federal court.
Ellingson's father, Craig Ellingson, told the Kansas City Star: "That ruling let everyone off the hook."
The only counts left in the case involve Piercy, including negligence and a civil rights violation.
According to Henry, he was ordered to undergo two psychological exams, but neither revealed any cause for concern.
Henry said he was instructed to tell a legislative committee trooper training had been sufficient before Ellingson's drowning, but the lawsuit reported, Henry said he "wasn't going to lie for anyone."
After testifying at a deposition in the federal lawsuit the Ellingson family filed against the Patrol, Henry said he was notified that formal, internal charges had been filed against him.
He eventually was transferred from working the Lake of the Ozarks - where he'd been assigned for nearly 30 years - to Truman Lake, 90 miles from the family's Rocky Mount home.
The Patrol also planned to demote Henry, but he challenged both actions and requested the disciplinary hearing and that it be a public hearing.
But last Oct. 30, "Chet" Pleban announced Henry retired from the Patrol, cancelling both the hearing and the planned demotion.
The new lawsuit said that retirement was forced, causing Henry to lose income and benefits and experience "emotional pain and suffering, mental anguish, inconvenience, humiliation, embarrassment, loss of enjoyment of life, stress and loss of personal and professional reputation."
Henry told the Star this week: "They forced me to retire by moving me - I basically lost all supervisory roles I had.
"I was treated like a first-year recruit. I feel like I was retaliated against for doing the right thing."
Mike O'Connell, spokesman for the state Public Safety department, told the News Tribune on behalf of the Patrol: "It would be inappropriate for the Patrol to comment on any pending litigation," adding, "We look forward to addressing this matter in court."
The attorney general's office represents the Patrol in lawsuits, but spokeswoman Nanci Gonder said the office declined to comment at this time.
Henry told the Star the Patrol "didn't want it to be shown how sloppy it was.
"The main reason I did it was for the family. The family deserves to know what happened to their son."