(Spirit Lake)– A former Spirit Lake police officer has filed a wrongful termination lawsuit in U-S Federal Court in Sioux City.
The suit, filed on behalf of Doug Ricke, names the city of Spirit Lake, Mayor Eric Nielsen and Police Chief Jon Martyr as defendants.
The 19-page lawsuit claims Ricke was deprived of his rights to free speech and those afforded by the 14th amendment to the constitution.
The suit states that on or about February 6th of this year a meeting was held between Ricke and Captain Larry Moorehead and the city’s Administrative Committee. The suit says the meeting was held to see what Ricke and Moorehead knew about alleged violations of the law or rule or mismanagement in the department. The suit states that Ricke provided a written list of 50 items he observed or had been told about by other citizens.
The suit goes on to state that on or about February 28th of this year, Mayor Nielsen and the Administrative Committee met with who was then Police Chief and, after presenting a list of alleged violations, asked for his resignation, indicating that if he didn’t do so, he would be terminated.
The suit claims on or about March 1st of this year Mayor Nielsen directed anyone with information about the possible resignation of the chief not to say anything about the circumstances surrounding the matter or they would be fired on the spot.
The Chief submitted his resignation on or about March 6th of this year, effective March 15th.
The city then started the process of hiring a new chief and Ricke applied. The suit states that a meeting was held on or about April 29th between Mayor Nielsen and Ricke at which time Ricke was informed that Jon Martyr had been hired as chief. The suit states that Ricke again told Nielsen about alleged problems in the department. The suit claims that because other police officers weren’t informed about the actual reasons surrounding the resignation that Ricke’s fellow officers blamed him for the matter, saying they were allegedly interfering with Ricke’s abilities to perform as a police officer. The suit says that based on the alleged illegalities in the department, Ricke contacted the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation on or about May 1st of this year.
The lawsuit also refers to a meeting on or about May 9th of this year between Ricke and a city council member at which time the suit claims Ricke was asked to apologize to Nielsen for raising his voice during the April 29th meeting and if he did, the incident would be forgotten and nothing would happen. The suit also claims that at that same meeting, Ricke talked about the alleged problems at the police department, and that he was told to file a grievance, which he did on May 10th.
On May 20th, Jon Martyr began his duties as Police Chief. The suit states that Martyr met that same day with Ricke and Mayor Nielsen and members of the Administrative Committee where Ricke apologized for raising his voice during their meeting April 29th.
The suit claims that on May 24th Martyr asked Ricke to withdraw his grievance. The suit claims that Martyr made a similar request on June 3rd. The suit states that on June 6th Ricke presented Martyr with a letter saying he was not withdrawing the grievance, and again requested an outside investigation.
The suit states that on June 14th a meeting was held between Mayor Nielsen and Martyr at which time it was decided to terminate Ricke. The suit says Ricke was terminated for contacting the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation; for filing a grievance in accordance with the city’s employee manual and for his alleged discussion with the Mayor on April 29th.
The suit claims the actions by the city and chief Martyr were in excess of any authority granted under law; that Ricke has accrued losses in past income and benefits and future retirement benefits; that his reputation has been damaged and that he has sustained humiliation and embarrassment.
The suit requests a jury trial in federal court.
KUOO news attempted to contact Assistant City Attorney Gregg Owen for comment, but he was not available late this afternoon.
