Former state trooper seeks stay of decision to revoke license

Former Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper Anthony Piercy filed a lawsuit this week against the Missouri Department of Public Safety to get his license back.

Piercy argues in the lawsuit filed in Cole County that department Director Drew Juden did not include “factual findings and legal conclusions” in his order stripping Piercy of his peace officer’s license, and that those findings and conclusions are required by state statute. Piercy is also seeking an immediate stay of Juden’s order pending a trial.

Piercy argues the stay is necessary in part to allow him to continue working.

Piercy was sentenced in September for misdemeanor negligent operation of a vehicle in the drowning of Brandon Eillingson, 20, of Clive, Iowa, at the Lake of the Ozarks in 2014. Ellingson died after Piercy pulled him over on suspicion of boating while intoxicated. Piercy handcuffed Ellingson and put the wrong type of life vest on him and Ellingson drowned after falling off the boat.

No hearings have been set in Piercy’s case.