Two Soddy Daisy Police officers who were fired after going to the District Attorney with concerns about actions of police officials there have filed suit.
Lt. Jake Elrod and Capt. Eric Jenkins filed suit in Federal Court.
The action was brought against the city of Soddy Daisy, City Manager Burt Johnson, current Police Chief Billy Petty and former Police Chief Mike Sneed.
The suit asks front and back pay with benefits, $1 million each, and treble damages.
The suit, filed by the law firm of Davis & Hoss, says the city "terminated the Plaintiffs in retaliation for exercising their constitutional rights to freedom of speech, exercising their duties to enforce the laws of the state of Tennessee, for communicating with elected officials in Hamilton County about public concerns, and for testifying about those concerns in a court of law in Hamilton County Criminal Court after the Soddy-Daisy Police Department covered up and intentionally refused to disclose the untruthfulness of an arresting Soddy-Daisy Police officer during an internal affairs investigation in a criminal proceeding in State of Tennessee v. Justin Whaley.."
Attorney Janie Varnell said at the time of the firing, "Three months ago, two long-time Soddy Daisy police officers, Lt. Elrod and Capt. Jenkins, came forward with evidence that another Soddy Daisy Officer, Jeremy Wright, had lied in a previous internal affairs investigation.
"Legal experts explain that such allegations of untruthfulness must be disclosed in criminal proceedings. However, while both Lt. Elrod and Capt. Jenkins testified in Hamilton County Criminal Court that they were threatened with their jobs by Soddy Daisy officials if they came forward and told the truth, the two persisted and brought the evidence to the Hamilton County District Attorney’s office who promptly turned it over to defense attorneys.
"Hamilton County Judge Boyd Patterson, after a hearing, found both Lt. Elrod and Capt. Jenkins to be credible witnesses in their testimony in the case of State v. Justin Whaley and ordered a new trial for Whaley based upon their testimony of Wright’s untruthfulness.
"Yesterday, Soddy Daisy terminated Lt. Elrod and Capt. Jenkins in clear retaliation for them bringing forward the evidence about Wright.
“Shame on Soddy Daisy for terminating these two long-time officers, Lt. Elrod and Captain Jenkins. This is the most blatant act of retaliation I have seen. These officers brought information to our local District Attorney about the truthfulness of an arresting police officer. Even the DA said in open court that this evidence should have been given to the defense before trial.
"Soddy Daisy tried to hide it and now they are punishing the officers who morally and legally did the right thing. The message that this sends to our community is that the Soddy Daisy Police Department wants to hide and cover up all of the bad deeds of their officers.”
Click here to read the suit.