Missouri trooper who spoke out after drowning demoted

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper who was critical of the agency after a handcuffed Iowa man fell from a patrol boat and drowned in the Lake of the Ozarks has been disciplined for speaking out.

Trooper Randy Henry was demoted from sergeant to corporal and transferred to Truman Lake, his attorney, Chet Pleban, said in a news release Thursday. Henry had patrolled at the Lake of the Ozarks for nearly three decades.

"That discipline is the result of the Patrol's effort to silence and discredit Sgt. Henry in connection with his claim of a cover up in connection with that investigation," Pleban said.

Brandon Ellingson, a 20-year-old suburban Des Moines, Iowa, native, drowned on May 31, 2014, while in the custody of veteran road trooper Anthony Piercy. Piercy had pulled over the college student on suspicion of boating while intoxicated, handcuffed Ellingson's wrists behind his back and then pulled an already buckled life vest, with armholes, over his head and upper torso, according to witnesses.

The vest, which wasn't properly secured, came off shortly after Ellingson tumbled into the water during transport to a zone office for a breath test, The Kansas City Star (http://bit.ly/1IxikGk ) reported.

Henry told state lawmakers last year that road troopers who help at the lake on a part-time basis receive very little field training.

A newspaper investigation discovered that Piercy had just two days of field training before he was released to patrol on the water alone. Piercy himself told jurors in the coroner's inquest in September that he hadn't received the proper training to handle what happened the day Ellingson drowned.

Jurors found the death to be accidental, and special prosecutor Amanda Grellner announced days later that she would not file criminal charges against Piercy.

Patrol spokesman Lt. Paul Reinsch said he could not comment.

The patrol's marine operations have been under scrutiny since Ellingson's death. A special House committee released a report in January calling on the state to correct flaws created by the 2011 merger of the Missouri Water Patrol into the Highway Patrol. Among suggested changes were an overhaul in training troopers for the water and a focus on recruiting specialized officers to patrol by boat.

Craig Ellingson, Brandon's father, has insisted that Piercy should be held accountable for what happened to his son. Contacted Thursday, he said Henry's discipline is wrong.

"It's retaliation," he said. "They shouldn't be doing that."

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Information from: The Kansas City Star, http://www.kcstar.com