The Associated Press
CHANDLER, Ariz. (AP) - A former police officer who was acquitted in a fatal 2002 shooting is suing Chandler while trying to regain his job.
The first of three scheduled reinstatement hearings was held Friday for Dan Lovelace before Chandler’s five-member merit board.
In July, a Maricopa County Superior Court jury acquitted Lovelace of second-degree murder, manslaughter and endangerment in the death of Dawn Rae Nelson.
Lovelace was charged in the fatal shooting of Nelson when she fled from a Walgreens drive-through after trying to fill a fake prescription on Oct. 11, 2002.
He was fired from the Chandler Police Department less than a month after the shooting.
Lovelace’s lawsuit filed Wednesday seeks $1 million.
The suit claims that Lovelace’s rights were violated when police officers and attorneys questioned him for an “apparent legitimate” employment investigation, then used that information against him in criminal proceedings.
It also makes claims of slander and defamation, breach of confidentiality, retaliation, wrongful discharge, intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress and intentional interference with contractual relations.