House committee meets on water patrol division

Missouri lawmakers are meeting at the state Capitol Monday afternoon to review the state’s Water Patrol division.

The Missouri House Appropriations Committee on Public Safety and Corrections will hear from several key officials in the hearing.

The committee is expected to look over the interim committee report on the 2011 Missouri Water Patrol Division.

The Water Patrol was merged with the Highway Patrol that year.

That move received scrutiny in the years following, notably during a 2014 incident where 20-year-old Brandon Ellingson drowned while in Highway Patrol custody at the Lake of the Ozarks.

One of the officers named in the resulting lawsuit was Highway Patrol Colonel Bret Johnson.

He is expected to be at Monday’s hearing along with state representative Diane Franklin and Missouri Department of Public Safety Director Lane Roberts.