ST. LOUIS — Two former Moscow Mills police officers who blew the whistle on an alleged traffic ticket quota scheme are suing the department for discriminating against them and cultivating a hostile work environment full of “sexually charged” language and homophobic slurs.
Former assistant chief Nicholas Brimager and Sgt. Jason Graham claim in a federal lawsuit filed last week that the city ignored their complaints about a plan to write tickets to generate revenue, then retaliated against them when they cooperated with an investigation by the Missouri attorney general. They say police Chief Terry Foster also threatened them and subjected them to offensive language.
Among other claims, the lawsuit says that Chief Foster called his former assistant chief an expletive for questioning the ticketing scheme and “for not getting involved with CrossFit ‘like a real man.’”
Foster did not respond to a request for comment, nor did the city’s mayor or attorney.
Moscow Mills — a city of roughly 3,200 people south of Troy in Lincoln County — was sued in Lincoln County court in November 2021 by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt over accusations that the city was “flagrantly violating” state law prohibiting traffic ticket quotas.
Schmitt’s suit accused the city and Foster of encouraging officers to write a minimum number of tickets each month and said Foster fired one officer for speaking out against it.
The city settled with the state in March, promising to eliminate a traffic...
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