AURORA, Mo. — A man has sued the City of Aurora, alleging he was fired in retaliation after reporting that Aurora Police Chief Wes Coatney threatened a female officer with a knife and made a rape threat.
In a petition filed March 16 in Lawrence County Circuit Court, Tatum Maples alleges the city unlawfully terminated his employment in April 2025 after he reported what he said he witnessed inside the police department.
According to the lawsuit, Maples said he saw Coatney in mid-March 2025 holding a pocket knife to the throat of a female subordinate employee while telling her he could rape her and “there was nothing she could do about it.”…