DPD Officers Claim Retaliation In Lawsuit

Follow CBSDFW.COM: Facebook | Twitter

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Did the Dallas Police Department unfairly drag two hero officers through the mud? That is the allegation in a whistleblower lawsuit filed by those officers.

Two police officers have sued the city, claiming that they were the victims of retaliation because they reported on bad conduct by a fellow officer.

Jason Scoggins was just awarded the Medal of Valor. Christopher Worden is a highly decorated Marine. But these two Dallas officers recently spent months on administrative leave and have been transferred to undesirable positions in the department. They said that they were targeted for false allegations of excessive force.

Dashboard camera video obtained exclusively by CBS 11 News shows Worden at the end of a police chase involving an active shooter last year near downtown Dallas. The Internal Affairs division considered his takedown of the suspect as excessive force and recommended a 25-day suspension. Chief David Brown took one look at the video and said that it was not excessive force.

Brown said the same thing about another arrest by Scoggins.

The two officers believe that they were set up because they turned in a fellow officer who allegedly took off his badge and gun to fight a teenager who was mouthing off to him. "Officers who see something that's been done wrong are being told, 'You better not report it because, if you do, we're going to punish you for it," said Chris Livingston, an attorney for the two officers.

Department officials declined to comment, citing a policy that prohibits them from speaking about a pending lawsuit.