The public was shocked and saddened when a 24-year-old man fatally ambushed  Isaiah Emenheiser, Mark Baker and Cody Becker, three detectives serving in York County, as they tried to serve a warrant on Sept. 17, 2025.

But they didn’t have to die, according to a scathing federal complaint filed by three of the fallen officers’ comrades who say Northern York County Regional Police Chief David Lash violated department policy by keeping the case in the hands of his department, rather than accept help from other agencies.

Lash shut down any internal review of his decision-making around the killings and retaliated against officers he thought opposed him, the lawsuit said, while waging a campaign of retaliation against the officers, firing one, demoting the other, and stripping responsibilities from the third.

Logan Chetaitis, Tyler Zeller and Christopher Irwin are claiming whistleblower status under Pennsylvania law. Chetaitis and Zeller also allege First Amendment retaliation and municipal liability over the firings.

They’re asking for a declaratory judgment that the department’s policy, which forbade them from speaking out publicly over the deadly shooting, or from raising concerns over Lash’s leadership with anyone except Lash, was unconstitutional under the First Amendment, too.

PennLive could not reach Lash Tuesday night for comment after the lawsuit was filed.

Lash violated department policy, killed any investigation into his violations, and then, when Zeller and Chetaitis filed anonymous complaints over Lash’s head to the department’s board of commissioners, embarked on a campaign of retaliation against the officers, the lawsuit said.

It ended with Irwin, the department’s administrative lieutenant responsible for ensuring the department’s compliance with its own policies and accreditation standards, being transferred and stripped of many of his job responsibilities, and Chetaitis being terminated.

The decision to send in regular officers rather than a highly armed tactical team previously raised questions in the wake of the shooting.

A fourth officer from Northern York County was critically wounded as was a sheriff’s deputy, who was standing guard as the detectives from Northern York County approached the front door the day of the incident, the York County District Attorney’s Office previously said.

The officers are asking a federal court to protect them from retaliation, correct their employment records and restore lost positions or opportunities. They are also asking for back pay, front pay, other monetary damages, and a declaration that department policies concerning officers’ speech and petitions to the commission are unconstitutional.

Department policy specifically requires the department to consult York County’s quick-response team commander whenever circumstances suggest a high-risk entry or high-risk service involving dangerous people.

Matthew Ruth, 24, who had a pattern of stalking behavior and was armed with a gun, presented precisely the type of heightened danger described in that policy, the lawsuit said. But on Sept. 17, 2025, Lash sent the three detectives into the ambush without consulting the county’s QRT commander, the lawsuit said.

Lash made it clear to members of the department that he didn’t want outside law enforcement agencies operating within his jurisdiction, the lawsuit said.

Irwin, an administrative lieutenant, emailed his fellow lieutenants Oct. 1, raising concerns about the department’s compliance with those requirements, the lawsuit said. He recommended the department review the circumstances, but Lash squelched the attempts to initiate an investigation into any alleged misconduct, the lawsuit said.

Lash insisted there would be no investigation addressing whether police — including Lash — violated the department’s policy or code of conduct, or accreditation standards.

Lash insisted the only thing that needed to be investigated was whether the fatal shooting of Ruth was justified under the law, the lawsuit said.

Lash himself served on the Pennsylvania Law Enforcement Accreditation Commission, and said during the department’s April 2025 reassessment that accreditation provides “the structure necessary to develop a culture of policing the right way,” according to the lawsuit. He said the program is the professional gold standard.

The anonymous letters

Zeller and Chetaitis endured years of Lash’s “arbitrary, authoritarian, and retaliatory leadership.” But they also believed Lash’s command contributed to Baker, Becker and Emenheiser’s deaths, the lawsuit said, which marked a turning point.

“They could no longer remain silent in the face of misconduct they believed endangered their fellow officers and undermined the integrity of the department,” the lawsuit said.

Zeller submitted the first anonymous letter in December 2025. Afterward, the police union leadership required union members who wanted to review the anonymous letter to meet with Lash in person so he could go over the letter with the officer.

It meant the primary subject of the complaints had a front-row seat to see who was interested in the allegations against him, the lawsuit said. And Lash started referring to Zeller as “Shakespeare” and an author. Lash figured it out, the lawsuit said.

Chetaitis later sent an anonymous letter in January 2026, which doubled down on concerns regarding the detectives’ deaths, officer wellness, inadequate safety equipment, and favoritism within the department.

Retaliation claims

The letters launched Lash into a campaign of retaliation, the lawsuit said, isolating the three officers at work, subjecting them to additional scrutiny, reassigning tasks and excluding them from department social events such as the Christmas party.

Lash didn’t invite Irwin to the department’s Christmas party, once told Irwin he wouldn’t be at the department in five years, and rushed Irwin out of meetings. Lash continued peeling responsibilities away from Irwin, and placed a disciplinary directive in Irwin’s file instructing him not to remove, destroy or alter accreditation materials, the lawsuit said.

Lash also modified physical testing for promotions within the department to make it harder for Irwin to qualify for promotion, the lawsuit said.

Meanwhile, Lash and other subordinates began selectively dredging through department records on Chetaitis to find reasons to discipline and eventually terminate him. The department brought a “truthfulness investigation” against him, and he was placed on suspension in early July, and was terminated July 22, around seven months after he submitted his letter.

Shortly after Zeller submitted his complaint against Lash and the department’s command, Lash targeted Zeller with disciplinary action over a November 2025 incident in which he apprehended a bank robber without a shot being fired.

Lash distorted the circumstances of the event to suspend Zeller for 36 hours and eventually demote him as a supervisor, the lawsuit said. His performance evaluation in late November 2025 critcized Zeller for spreading “negativity about command” and he eventually faced a second suspension, for 44 hours, in August.

Additional complaints

Zellers and Chetaitis both raised concerns about Lash misusing department money in their anonymous letters, the lawsuit said.

Chetaitis said Lash bought a $65,000 vehicle using department money because he disliked how his old truck rode. He raised allegations of a potential conflict of interest involving a NYCRPD lieutenant’s private business with subordinate officers, scheduling decisions that benefitted the business, direct supervision of a relative, and favoritism in allocating overtime.

The lawsuit said the department failed to discipline a favored promotional candidate after a negligent firearm discharge injured another officer.

Chetaitis’ letter, sent in January 2026, brought forward allegations of potential conflicts of interest regarding private business between a department lieutenant and subordinate officers.

Another supervisor displayed a Nazi flag inside the station, directed officers to turn off their body-worn cameras or face them down, and used an ethnic slur while on duty, the lawsuit said.

Supervisors also instructed subordinates not to respond to domestic calls involving a favorable union official, the lawsuit said.

Zellers wrote in his letter the officers also wrote Lash had spent department funds to purchase a dump truck, an enclosed trailer and other equipment for him to use for personal reasons while failing to spend money on equipment officers needed to stay safe.

The second anonymous letter — now identified as being authored by Chetaitis — quoted Ronald Reagan at its very end: “Evil is powerless if the good are unafraid.”

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