Ex-Missouri state trooper in drowning case sues for license

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A former Missouri state trooper who was driving a boat when a handcuffed Iowa man fell out and drowned is suing to get his peace officers’ license back.

Brandon Ellingson sits in the back of a State Highway Patrol boat on the Lake of the Ozarks after being arrested

Anthony Piercy filed a lawsuit this week against the Missouri Department of Public Safety and the agency’s director. The Kansas City Star reports he’s asking for a reversal of the decision that revoked his license.

Piercy was sentenced in September for misdemeanor negligent operation of a vehicle after the drowning of 20-year-old Brandon Ellingson, of Clive, Iowa.

Piercy lost his patrol job. But earlier this summer, a Cole County judge ruled that the patrol’s leader didn’t have the authority to fire Piercy.

Piercy cannot return to the patrol without his peace officer license.