NEW ORLEANS — A veteran New Orleans police officer fired this week for allegedly lying about his role in reporting a bogus cheating scandal and who was the subject of a payroll fraud investigation filed a federal lawsuit on Thursday seeking to get his job back.
In the 25-page federal lawsuit, attorneys for Chad Cockerham argued that he was “subjected to repeated and unlawful investigations concerning alleged payroll fraud and alleged dishonesty, despite the absence of credible evidence of criminal wrongdoing.”
Named as defendants are the New Orleans Police Department, Supt. Anne Kirkpatrick, the city of New Orleans, 10 John Does “whose identities are currently unknown but who participated in the unconstitutional conduct” and University of New Orleans professor Skip Gallagher, an NOPD watchdog, are named as defendants…