Dallas – Fort Worth (WBAP/KLIF) – It was a win Thursday for former Fort Worth Police Chief Joel Fitzgerald in court Thursday.
Dallas Associate Judge Associate Judge Monica Purdy signed an order Thursday City Manager David Cooke, Assistant City Manager Jay Chapa and Manny Ramirez, president of the Fort Worth Police Officers Association should make themselves available to be deposed in connection with the firing of of the city’s former police chief. The order further stated that the depositions should take place within five days.
Joel Fitzgerald’s attorney, Stephen Kennedy has demanded for months, that his client be reinstated and alleges he his firing was in retaliation for conducting an investigation into city corruption.
Fitzgerald filed a whistle-blower lawsuit over findings in Dallas County.
According to the Fort Worth Star Telegram, Associate Judge Monica Purdy signed an order Thursday stating that depositions “should take place within five days and that certain relevant documents to the case should be produced prior to the date of the depositions.“
The city has maintained that Fitzgerald showed an increasing ‘lack of judgement’ on some matters. In a press conference shortly after his dismissal, City Manager noted an alleged dust-up with a state police union official during a National Police Week event in Washington in May to which the aforementioned FTW police union president says he was a witness.
City officials also took issue with Fitzgerald being named as a top contender for the same position within the Baltimore Police Department.
The case for reinstatement was made in Dallas County as part of a whistle-blower action filed by Fitzgerald’s attorney.
(Copyright 2019 WBAP/KLIF 24/7 News. This report contains material from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
