Mocksville police officer suing town testifies

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) – The Latest on a federal trial in which three police officers in Mocksville, North Carolina, say they were fired for telling state officials about corruption inside their department. (all times local):

6:15 p.m.

A former Mocksville police detective who says he was fired because he and other officers voiced their concerns about management of the department has testified that he felt the department was “going downhill at a fast pace.”

Jerry Medlin was the first plaintiff to take the witness stand Monday in U.S. District Court in Winston-Salem. He and two other officers are suing the department, saying former police Chief Robert Cook and current town manager Christine Bralley violated their free-speech rights by firing them in December 2011 because they had called the governor’s office to share their concerns.

Medlin said he wrote Bralley to express concerns over things he had seen and heard about the department in July 2009 before the officers contacted the governor’s office.

4 p.m.

One of the seven women seated in the jury hearing a lawsuit involving the Mocksville Police Department has been released from duty after agreement by attorneys on both sides of the case.

The juror told U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Schroeder before opening statements Monday that she was forced to keep one of her children out of school. The juror said her jury duty meant she couldn’t drive the child and other transportation was lacking.

Attorneys made their opening statements and testimony began in the case after the juror’s dismissal.

Three former officers say Mocksville’s former police chief and the current town manager violated their free-speech rights by firing them in 2011. They say they were fired because they had called the governor’s office to share their concerns.

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1:45 p.m.

A federal trial is scheduled to begin for three officers who say they were fired for telling state officials about corruption in the Mocksville Police Department.

The trial is scheduled to begin Monday in U.S. District Court in Winston-Salem.

The three former officers say the former police chief and the current town manager violated their free-speech rights by firing them in 2011. They say they were fired because they had called the governor’s office to share their concerns.

They sued in 2012 and want at least $100,000 each in damages and their jobs back.

In its response, the town says the three were fired for their own misconduct and that officials didn’t know about the call to the governor’s office when they were fired.

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