Suit filed over police souvenir depicting injured protester
PHOENIX (AP) — A police officer filed a lawsuit seeking to bar Phoenix from continuing its internal investigation of him for allegedly possessing a souvenir that depicted a protester getting shot in the groin outside a 2017 Trump rally.
Officer Christopher Turiano fired the pepper ball that struck the protester and was found in a separate inquiry to have possessed a rubber patch that portrayed the protester’s injury.
He has refused to turn over his cellphone data to internal investigators.
The investigation centers on “challenge coins” and patches circulated among officers to commemorate police operations.
A city spokesman said employees are expected to cooperate in internal investigations.
