Former Ashland police officer settles lawsuit with city for $1 million; city still faces another suit
Lucas Geisler
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
A former Ashland police officer has settled his lawsuit with the city, according to his attorney.
Andy Hirth of TGH Litigation said former officer Tom Whitener settled his claims over wrongful firing with Ashland for $1 million. The two sides were set to go to trial on July 6.
Whitener sued Ashland in 2023, claiming the city did not follow state law dictating the procedures by which a city can fire a police officer. Whitener said the city retaliated against him after reporting misconduct by former Chief Gabe Edwards, who left in 2023 amid a state investigation into his use of a law enforcement search system.
“The chief was using law enforcement databases to research people and then he would post stories on Facebook under the alias Keith Beavers about those people,” Hirth said in an interview with ABC 17 News.
After reporting the misconduct, Whitener was placed on leave. Hirth said the city did not follow the proper procedures to remove Whitener. Under Missouri law, those steps include: informing the officer of what rules he broke, allowing them to see all the evidence against them and giving the officer a due proccess hearing.
“They told him they wanted him to undergo a psychological fitness for duty exam and they never scheduled the exam,” Hirth said. “Two weeks later, they told him to come in and get his last paycheck and when he did, they tried to get him to sign a letter of resignation, which he refused to do because he wasn’t being he wasn’t resigning. So they fired him instead.”
Hirth said the case would be formally settled in court “in the coming week.” ABC 17 News has asked the city for a copy of the settlement.
“Officer Whitener did what we would hope all police would do in his situation: he spoke up when he saw another officer — in this case, the Chief of Police — breaking the law,” Hirth wrote in a text to ABC 17 News. “He knew he could face retaliation for doing so, and he did it anyway because it was the right thing to do. We need more law enforcement officers like Tom Whitener in our communities and on our streets. It was an honor to represent him in this case, and I’m thrilled to see him vindicated through this much-deserved settlement from the City.”
The Missouri State Highway Patrol investigated the claims against Edwards regarding his use of the Missouri Uniform Law Enforcement System. Special prosecutor Ben Miller did not charge Edwards because the highway patrol did not give him a probable cause statement supporting charges, but Edwards was removed as chief.
Leadership in the Ashland city government has turned over since Whitener’s lawsuit and the fallout of Edwards’ resignation. Chief Scott Young took over APD shortly after Edwards was placed on leave. An interim city administrator took over in May when Kyle Michel left. The city is searching for a permanent hire for the job.
Whitener wasn’t the only whistleblower that faced alleged retaliation. Andrew Worrell, a former police sgt. with APD, is also in the midst of his own legal process. Hirth said Worrell submitted the initial misconduct claim with Whitener against the former chief and later made another claim against a different officer for lying on record about Whitener’s mental stability.
“Different chief by that time, yeah. He got fired for reporting this issue of of concern that another officer was lying,” Hirth said.
Worrell is still waiting on his due process hearing with the city of Ashland.
“We asked for the due process hearing, that was in July of last year. They still not held his due process hearing and we’re almost a year later,” Hirth said.