Texas Supreme Court Again Denies City Of Fort Worth's Request To Review Decisions To Fire Former Police Chief Joel Fitzgerald

TARRANT COUNTY (CBSDFW.COM) - For a second time, the Texas Supreme Court has denied a request from the city of Fort Worth to review lower court decisions over the city's firing of former police chief Joel Fitzgerald.

The denial puts the case back in the trial court in Dallas for a trial, possibly later this year.

Fitzgerald sued the city over his firing in May 2019, saying it was due to him being a whistleblower over the city's failure to follow cyber security policy related to a federal criminal information system.

Now a police chief in Iowa, he has continued to push for reinstatement in Fort Worth, which is now on its second chief since Fitzgerald was fired.

In a press release about the Supreme Court decision Monday, Fitzgerald's attorney Stephen Kennedy wrote that the case is "referendum on those who believe that black men and women do not possess the same leadership skills as white Americans."