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Missouri court rejects former patrol sergeant’s discrimination case

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit from a former Missouri State Highway Patrol sergeant who alleged he was discriminated against after speaking out about the drowning of a handcuffed Iowa man.

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

The judge found Wednesday that Randy Henry went too far in talking to reporters and posting information on Facebook about the supposed cover-up of 20-year-old Brandon Ellingson’s drowning.

The suburban Des Moines man tumbled out of a patrol boat in 2014 while former trooper Anthony Piercy was transporting him for a breath test and slipped out of an improperly secured life vest. Piercy pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor.

Henry alleged that he was forced to retire early from the patrol after nearly three decades of service because he was a whistleblower.

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