MELBOURNE, Fla. --
Lawyers for former Melbourne police officer Frank Carter are seeking between $25 million and $50 million in a lawsuit filed against the city of Melbourne on Wednesday in federal court.
Carter was let go from the force after being arrested 15 months ago amid allegations that he engaged in racial profiling and falsified records. The State Attorney’s Office dropped charges of misconduct earlier this year.
Shortly after 11 a.m., Carter’s attorney, James Byrd, was at the courthouse and was filing the suit as he spoke with Local 6 News partner Florida Today.
“The complaint fairly well lays out Frank’s claims,” said Byrd of the law firm Morgan & Morgan.
In a faxed letter to Melbourne City Attorney Paul Gougelman on May 9, Byrd asked the city to pay Carter's full salary and benefits from the date of his firing as well as $3 million in damages in order to settle out of court. Another option, according to the letter, was for the city to agree to mediation in the case.
Carter claimed that he became the target of former Police Chief Don Carey and City Manager Jack Schluckebier when he openly complained about the chief in his position as chairman of the Fraternal Order of Police.
“I cannot imagine how a jury would react to the wholesale destruction of this man’s life and career by a police chief and city manager, people who hold positions of trust and who acted in a most malicious manner toward a highly decorated police officer,” Byrd wrote in the letter.
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