The Kentucky police officer placed on leave after he spent a morning praying outside a Louisville abortion clinic is returning to work.
It all happened in the early morning hours of Saturday, Feb. 20, when the unnamed officer joined his father just before 6 a.m. at the EMW Women’s Surgical Center to pray the rosary.
The decision to suspend the cop for four months came after someone tweeted a photo of the law enforcement officer at the clinic, where he was in uniform but wearing a jacket.
It’s important to note the officer was off duty at the time.
During the months the cop was suspended, he was not allowed to make any arrests, work any cases, or work overtime hours. He also lost a great deal of income, which he uses to support his wife and their four young children.
Attorneys with the Thomas More Society, which is representing the police officer, said their client “prayed alone with his father for less than an hour,” according to WLKY-TV.
“It is astounding to those of us defending him — shocking, actually — that the police department would treat a hardworking, loyal officer this way,” lawyer Matt Heffron said. “They left him twisting in the wind for four months because of off-duty prayer.”
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Furthermore, LMPD sent the cop notes, explaining how his actions -— prayer on his personal time — might have violated the department’s standard operating procedures as well as state regulations.
“None of the officer’s off-duty prayer was covered by the LMPD allegations, and any formal punishment, under these circumstances, would violate his First Amendment rights,” added Heffron.
The officer’s legal representation has been pushing LMPD since March to act swiftly in reinstating their client.
Attorneys with the Thomas More Society also submitted an open-records request to the department to confirm LMPD extended no similar disciplinary actions against off-duty, uniformed officers who marched in Black Lives Matter protests or participated in LGBT Pride rallies.
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