A Michigan State Police trooper and Ida native has filed a lawsuit that claims he was wrongly fired under the Whistleblower's Act for coming forward about a gathering of supervisors in Dundee who he claims were drinking alcohol while on the job.

Trooper Mark Andrews, 32, who served at the Monroe Post for several years, said the MSP fired him and called him a liar after he spoke out in 2020 about a party — which he did not attend — where sergeants and other supervisors drank alcohol while on duty and violated state restrictions related to COVID-19.

State police officials investigated his claims and told the Detroit Free Press that there was no evidence of alcohol use at the Dundee gathering in question.

Andrews grew up in Ida and studied criminal justice at college. He then served in the military before becoming a state trooper in 2012. This week, Andrews filed a whistleblower suit against the MSP in Wayne County Circuit Court alleging wrongful dismissal and violation of his rights under the Veterans' Preference Act.

"Had I bit my tongue, things probably would have been different. But at the back of my head I would have still known it happened," Andrews told the Free Press on Thursday, at his lawyer's office in Detroit.

On the day of the house party in Dundee, "God forbid there was a shooting that happened," Andrews said. "Now all your supervisors are not going to be responding, or if they do, they're intoxicated."

Since he spoke out about the alleged party, the MSP has...

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