OCALA — The mayor of Coleman did not improperly retaliate against a police officer for lodging complaints about the department, a federal judge ruled on July 20.
In 2016, Thomas Santarlas, who served as a police administrator, filed a lawsuit against the city of Coleman and Mayor Milton Hill, alleging the city fired him and disbanded the police force after he lodged complaints with the state attorney's office for misappropriation of funds.
Santarlas claimed his firing was retaliation for exercising his First Amendment right to freedom of expression.
Coleman's mayor disbanded the city's police force in 2014.
But the city maintained the former officer's status as a public servant did not entitle him to those constitutional protections. In addition, the city argued the mayor "qualified immunity," which protects government officials from civil lawsuits if they have not violated a person's constitutional rights.
Timothy Corrigan of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida agreed and sided with the city and its mayor.
Since Santarlas spoke up as an employee, not a public citizen, Corrigan held the former officer did not have First Amendment protections.
In the 18-page opinion, Corrigan wrote government officials are permitted to "regulate" their employees' expression "more stringently" than they may regulate that of a private citizen.
"In situations such as this, in which a public employee suspects retaliation for exposing governmental malfeasance related to his job, the employee is often better served pursuing non-constitional remedies instead of First Amendment claims," Corrigan wrote.