A former St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department officer will not get his job back with the city.
Judge Joan Moriarty of the 22nd Circuit, which covers St. Louis, upheld the firing of Lafeal Lawshea on June 17. He had been let go from the department in 2021 for not having a law enforcement license.
The case began in March 2021, when then-Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner charged Lawshea with multiple counts of sexual assault. The state suspended Lawshea’s law enforcement license that August, and the police department fired him a few days later for failing to maintain a valid license.
The Civil Service Commission upheld the firing in 2022. Lawshea sued, arguing that the department regulation mandating termination for not having a valid license violated his due process rights because he was not allowed to challenge the allegations that led to the suspension. He asked to be reinstated with back pay and interest.
Moriarty wrote that Lawshea’s decision to waive a pretermination hearing meant he had forfeited his right to due process.
“It appears that [the] petitioner made a strategic decision to waive a hearing and not to offer evidence at an administrative hearing,” she said.
Missouri lifted Lawshea’s license suspension after a jury found him not guilty. He now works as an officer in Moline Acres, a north St. Louis County suburb. His attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
