Matthew Schrenger was suspended in February after standing outside the clinic when he was off duty.
Schrenger was wearing his uniform but his attorney, Matt Hefron of Thomas More Society, says his client covered his uniform with a coat so that no one could tell he was a police officer.
"From February 20th to June 29th they let him dangle,” Hefron says of the suspension. “And it gets worse: During the same time, they encouraged policeman and certainly did not discipline them for marching while on duty with their uniforms fully displayed for a LGBT parade and for Black Lives Matter protests."
Nothing happened to those officers, says Hefron, and in fact they were encouraged to participate.
“So the only difference that we can see here is that if you're praying, and if you're praying against abortion, even if it's off-duty,” the attorney alleges, “they will suspend you for four months. Whereas if you're doing what is favored, LGBT or Black Lives Matter, for that sort of speech, they will applaud you."
The federal lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky.
