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A former deputy who says the Beaver County sheriff retaliated against him for reporting that the sheriff choked a man at a homicide scene is suing the county.
Cody Allen filed his civil rights lawsuit Monday in state court in Beaver. The lawsuit accuses Sheriff Cameron Noel of misleading other law enforcement about what happened the night of May 14, 2014.
Allen was fired months later over allegations that he was drunk at a Halloween party and threatened someone there. Craig Pankratz, Allen's attorney, said his client has information about other deputies whose behavior was more egregious but who were allowed to remain as employees.
"We believe that the termination of his employment based on so-called policy reasons is pretextual," Pankratz said.
The Beaver County Attorney's Office referred comment to a private-practice lawyer it has retained, Peter Stirba. He did not reply to a request for comment Tuesday.
Noel and Beaver County were already the subject of inquires and a lawsuit about what happened the night the sheriff allegedly choked another man. The man who says he was assaulted by Noel, Timothy Wilson, is in prison but has filed a civil rights lawsuit in federal court in Utah.
Noel alleged actions are the subject of at least one criminal investigation, which is under the jurisdiction of the Utah Attorney General's Office.
The Tribune last week won a case at the Utah State Records Committee seeking communications within the attorney general's office about Noel. The attorney general now has the option of appealing the decision in state court.
Allen, in an interview with The Tribune earlier this year, said the FBI questioned him about Noel. However, Utah's police regulators — called Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) — determined there wasn't enough evidence to try to suspend or revoke Noel's police certification and closed its investigation.
Allen's lawsuit, filed in 5th District Court, says he proceeded to give testimony to POST and other law enforcement.
"Sheriff told others that he felt like he had been 'stabbed in the back' and that there was no loyalty in the Sheriff's Office," according to the lawsuit.
Allen's testimony and video from a Utah Highway Patrol dashboard camera contradict what Noel said happened that night, the lawsuit contends.
"Sheriff actually fired Cody because Cody testified against Sheriff before POST and provided information against Sheriff in a formal criminal investigation," the lawsuit says.
Allen contends his firing violated his civil rights. He is seeking damages to be proven at trial.
On May 14, 2014, Dorothy Louise Searcy, then 44, stabbed and killed her husband, 45-year-old Reginald Searcy at a motel in Beaver. Wilson is the woman's son. He was in the next room during the stabbing and was handcuffed while deputies and a state trooper sorted out what happened.
Multiple written reports from that night say that as Wilson was being led away, he yelled at another deputy to get his mother's medication. Noel told Wilson to "shut up" and get in the car.
That's when Wilson, according to a deputy's report, yelled at Noel, "F—- you, you fat motherf——-." A POST summary quotes Wilson but omits the word "fat."
Noel took Wilson from the deputy and attempted to put Wilson in the front passenger seat of a patrol car. Noel told the investigators Wilson tried to head butt him and that Wilson bit him on the arm.
"Sheriff Noel then put both of his hands on [Wilson's] neck and pushed him back into the seat," the summary says.
The POST summary conflicts with a report Noel wrote after the episode. In that report, Noel made no mention of placing both hands on Wilson's neck.
Instead, Noel said, he used his left arm to push Wilson's head and body into the seat so he could buckle the man's seat belt.
The POST summary also makes no mention of what Allen and Deputy Steven Kline reported. But both said in reports about the homicide and aftermath that they saw Noel put both hands around Wilson's neck.
Allen wrote in his report: "I observed the sheriff's arms tense up and him squeeze as hard as he could."
Another deputy who filed a report on what happened that night, Steve Kline, 42, also has been terminated by Beaver County.
Kline pleaded guilty March 23 to a class B misdemeanor count of wrongful appropriation. Court records show he was sentenced to a year of probation, 20 hours of community service and fined $533.
Dorothy Searcy in September pleaded guilty in 5th District Court in Beaver to a reduced third-degree felony count manslaughter and was sentenced to up to five years in prison.
Wilson was on parole for attempted armed robbery in Tennessee and was considered an absconder when his step-father was stabbed to death. Wilson is currently in a prison in Whiteville, Tenn.
Noel is the son of state Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab.
Twitter: @natecarlisle