Sergeant who responded to police ambush sues Urbandale over 'abusive treatment,' says he has PTSD

Urbandale police Sgt. Mark Jorgensen attempted to secure the crime scene after he found one of his officers shot to death in a patrol car in November 2016. 

Officer Justin Martin, 24, had been assigned to Jorgensen's command weeks earlier. Minutes after the killing, another call came over the radio notifying officers that a Des Moines police sergeant had been ambushed in a fatal shooting two miles away.

As squad cars sped to that murder, Jorgensen told assisting firefighters he lacked the manpower to protect them in Urbandale. Jorgensen and three officers investigated in the dark for several hours — the killer at large — after their former chief declined to deploy an emergency response team, Jorgensen alleges in a lawsuit filed against the city of Urbandale. 

In his petition, Jorgensen claimed he has faced disability discrimination, harassment, a failure to accommodate him and retaliation under the Iowa Civil Rights Act, citing incidents before and after the police killings that shocked Iowa.

Jorgensen developed post-traumatic stress disorder and an anxiety disorder from the killing and the city's "subsequent abusive treatment" of him, the lawsuit claims. The petition made complaints against current and former employees in the police department and the human resources office.

Derek Zarn, a city spokesman, said the city looked forward to working with Jorgensen to discuss his concerns in a "fair and expedited approach." He said the city addresses complaints in a thoughtful manner. 

Sgt. Chad Underwood, the police department's spokesman, said he could not comment. The city's attorney, Brent Hinders, said Urbandale planned to "vigorously defend" itself; Urbandale must answer the petition or file a motion within 20 days. 

The police killer, Scott Michael Greene, pleaded guilty in May 2017 to two counts of first-degree murder, admitting he shot Martin and Des Moines police Sgt. Anthony “Tony” Beminio, 38. Greene was sentenced to two consecutive terms of life in prison. 

In the lawsuit, which became public Monday, Jorgensen said former Urbandale Police Chief Ross McCarty expressed disdain and disrespect toward officers struggling with mental health issues after the killing of their colleague. Jorgensen said he was "chastised" for trying to help an officer who resigned because of his PTSD.

McCarty, who served as chief from 2008 until he retired in 2017, could not be reached to comment Tuesday; a voicemail and text to his phone went unreturned.

'Plagued with severe nightmares'

When Jorgensen returned home after the shootings, he had been awake for about 40 hours, according to his lawsuit. He told an officer the next day he did not know if he should be at work because of his mental state.

A captain heard Jorgensen, who has a sleep disorder, was struggling and "angrily chewed him out," accusing him of not being a team player, his petition said. Jorgensen's sleeping worsened as he grappled with intense guilt about Martin's death.

"He became plagued with severe nightmares and images of the murder scene that he could not erase from his mind," his attorneys, Paige Fiedler and David Albrecht, wrote in the lawsuit. 

The sergeant was re-traumatized when he had to watch the body camera footage from that night — forcing him to "relive every awful moment" — after McCarty wanted to know if something Jorgensen said was recorded on video, according to the lawsuit. 

At one meeting with employees, McCarty complained about how he was notified about Martin's death, something the petition described as "an implicit dig" at Jorgensen, his attorneys said. At the end of the meeting, the city did not provide resources to officers coping with the deaths, the lawsuit claims.

Days after the shootings, Jorgensen was set to be part of the honor guard at his officer's visitation in Martin's hometown of Rockwell City, but the chief refused to let him participate, the sergeant alleges. 

Jorgensen was among tens of thousands of officers to travel in May 2017 to Washington, D.C., for National Police Week to honor colleagues who died in the line of duty. As a speaker talked about depression, the lawsuit says, McCarty responded: "I’ll tell you how to deal with depression. You get up, put your pants on and get to work."

More: Complete coverage of the 'ambush style' police attacks

 When Jorgensen filed a complaint in August 2017, a city human resources official warned him it would be difficult to prove harassment, minimizing the accusations he made, according to his lawsuit. Jorgensen, who has been a police officer since 1998, said Urbandale failed to investigate his complaint. 

"You realize that when push comes to shove, none of these people are going to back you up," the human resources official told him, the lawsuit alleges. 

Among other accusations, Jorgensen said that the former chief "bad-mouthed" him throughout the department and that the city refused his request to exercise during his lunch break, one of the few things that help manage his PTSD and anxiety disorder. 

The sergeant was also threatened by McCarty with the possibility of demotion, according to the lawsuit, which says the chief tried to get officers to accuse Jorgensen of making mistakes the night of the killings. 

The suit noted Jorgensen's schedule: Despite his sleep disorder, he was periodically assigned to work overnight, he said. He was hospitalized several times, had parts of his bowel removed and re-experienced complications with Crohn’s disease, he claimed.

Jorgensen's face may be familiar to those not in policing: He was in the news in November after he jumped in frigid water to save a man whose car plunged into a pond.

The sergeant is seeking compensation for his alleged injuries and damages. His attorneys would not make him available for an interview with the Register. 

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Register reporter Luke Nozicka can be reached at 515-284-8069, lnozicka@dmreg.com or on Twitter @lukenozicka.