VERSAILLES, Mo. (AP) A Missouri state trooper convicted of a misdemeanor for the drowning death of a handcuffed Iowa man has been fired.
The Kansas City Star reports that that a Missouri State Highway Patrol spokesman confirmed Anthony Piercy was fired Friday, more than 3 1/2 years after 20-year-old Brandon Ellingson, of Clive, Iowa, drowned in the Lake of the Ozarks.
In September, Piercy was sentenced to 10 days in jail and two years on supervised probation after pleading guilty to negligent operation of a vessel.
Piercy had pulled Ellingson over on the lake in May 2014 for suspicion of operating while intoxicated. Ellingson drowned after being thrown from the boat by a wave while wearing an improperly secured life vest.
Ellingson’s father, Craig Ellingson, says he received an email Friday from Missouri State Highway Patrol Col. Sandra Karsten stating that Piercy was fired after the patrol’s procedural hearing board determined he had violated patrol policies in Brandon Ellingson’s death.
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