Controversy Continues for Mendota Heights Police Department

Mendota Heights residents, including the widow of an officer who was killed in the line of duty, are calling for the chief of police, Mike Aschenbrener, to be removed from his job. Demonstrators recently protested near Mendota Heights City Hall in an effort to draw more attention to their cause.

“Everything that's been going on, it all started from Scott,” Michelle Patrick, the widow of Officer Scott Patrick, recently told FOX 9. “I mean, that's my feelings, you know.”

Michelle Patrick reached a settlement last year with the city of Mendota Heights in a civil case that started when her late husband filed a lawsuit four months before he died. In the lawsuit, Scott claimed he became a victim of whistleblower harassment and workplace retaliation after he reported two fellow officers committing what he said was theft.

“I just want the community to be aware that this has been going on for years,” Patrick said at the time. “I want them to be aware of it.”

The group of protesters at city hall believe that Patrick's friends on the force, including his partner Sgt. Bobby Lambert and Officer Mike Shepard, are being punished for speaking out about issues at the Mendota Heights Police Department.

The Pioneer Press reported that Shepard was recently placed on administrative leave for an unknown reason. Back in June, the Mendota Heights City Council voted to terminate Lambert for a separate incident he says is related to the mishandling a crime scene, but he has since appealed by filing a grievance through his union. An arbitrator will hear the matter on Nov. 17.

According to Lambert, he was fired because of mistakes he made while investigating a January 2016 drug-overdose death, but he believes the errors were “not significant enough to warrant termination.”

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