BELLEVUE, Neb. (AP) - A judge has dismissed a defamation lawsuit filed by former Bellevue Police Chief Mark Elbert against a law firm representing the city’s police union.
A Sarpy County district judge dismissed Elbert’s lawsuit last month, saying Elbert failed to prove that the defendants knowingly made false statements against him, the Omaha World-Herald reported Thursday.
The lawsuit was filed after the police union delivered a vote of no confidence against Elbert in September 2017, and the union’s attorney issued a news release accusing Elbert of instructing a sergeant to deceive other department members and of hiding information from the city administration.
Elbert said in the lawsuit that the law firm’s news release and other filings had defamed him.
Elbert was hired as Bellevue’s police chief in 2013, but was put on a nearly yearlong paid administrative leave in 2017 as the Sarpy County Sheriff’s Office investigated the complaints against him. Based on that investigation, an attorney contracted by the city and the acting Bellevue police chief recommended Elbert be fired.
But a city administrator rejected those recommendations and instead reprimanded Elbert and reinstated him. Elbert retired as police chief at the end of 2019 and transitioned to the position he now holds as Bellevue’s community development director.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.