Sgt. Sean Drenth death update: 3 officers file lawsuit over DNA samples
Sgt. Sean Drenth
Photographer: ABC15
Copyright 2010 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Posted: 12/10/2012
-
By: Associated Press
PHOENIX - A government watchdog group has filed a lawsuit on behalf of three Phoenix police officers who were forced to give DNA samples during the investigation into the mysterious death of a fellow officer.
Judicial Watch announced the filing of its civil rights lawsuit Monday. It alleges that police department management forced the officers to surrender their DNA in violation of their Fourth Amendment rights.
Officers Daniel Bill, Bryan Hanania, and Michael Malpass were among the first responders to the call the night Sgt. Sean Drenth was found fatally wounded near the state Capitol on Oct. 18, 2010.
Medical investigators ruled last year that Drenth's death was believed to be a suicide.
Judicial Watch says the officers never came in contact with Drenth's body, the shotgun or his handgun and should not have been forced to provide DNA.
The police department declined to comment on the pending litigation.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
PRINT
Did You Hear?
-
Singer: McDonald's ruined my voice
Jacqueline Simpson, 52, is suing the restaurant chain over a piece of glass she bit into while eating a chicken sandwich.
-
VIDEO: Wife dumps beer on husband
A man who was trying to protect his wife from a home run ball got a face full of beer for his effort.
-
Happy 140th Birthday, blue jeans
Jim Heston, an American guesthouse operator in Cambodia, has lived a life in denim and has the photos to prove it. There were the dungarees he wore as a little boy, the dark bell-bottoms he had on for a hike up Japan's Mount Fuji, and the Levis straight-leg 501 jeans he's stayed with for the past 36 years.
-
More Central Phoenix News
-
Services set for fallen Phoenix officer
Officer Daryl Raetz died after he was struck by a vehicle during a DUI traffic stop early Sunday morning.
-
Solar powered plane takes off from PHX
-
Should Arias get the death penalty?
-
RAW: Arias talks 1-on-1 with ABC15
-
Jury now deliberating death for Arias
-
PHX food bank sending donations to OK
- LIVE Trends on ABC15.com
