MILWAUKEE — Former Milwaukee Police Chief Alfonso Morales and his lawyer are asking a county judge to have the city reinstate Morales to his old job, arguing the city has not made any effort to abide by a ruling last year that Morales' demotion was illegal.
Morales' attorney, Franklyn M. Gimbel, sent an affidavit with the requests to the Milwaukee County Circuit Court Tuesday.
Milwaukee's Fire and Police Commission demoted Morales to captain last August amid tensions between the chief and the oversight body. Morales then retired from the police department, and has since been fighting to get his old job as chief back.
Tuesday's affidavit argues the city has not upheld Milwaukee County Judge Christopher Foley's decision last Decemberthat the FPC illegally demoted Morales to captain. The ruling also called for the city to reinstate Morales to chief, though it did not include how Morales might be reinstated.
The City Attorney's Office and the FPC have since blamed each other for the alleged illegal demoting.
TMJ4 News reached out to the FPC and the city Wednesday but did not immediately receive comment.
Gimbel argued Tuesday the city has not reached out to him regarding a date when Morales could return to work.
"The discord, distrust and uneasy stand-off that currently exists at City Hall between the City of Milwaukee, its FPC and the City Attorney’s office as to whether or not to honor Judge Foley’s Dec. 18, 2020, order is no excuse or good reason for continued delay and Respondents’ inaction and disobedience of the Court’s order," Gimbel writes.
Gimbel adds that the city informed him that Morales' retirement from the force would not preclude him from returning to his old position.
Gimbel asks the court to give Morales the same benefits, including his old salary, he had as police chief. He also asks the city to pay attorneys' fees and any loss of income since he left the department.
The FPC has since put on hold its search for a new police chief. In two votes, the commission was gridlockedbetween the two top candidates, Hoyt Mahaley and Malik Aziz.
Jeffrey Norman was named Acting Police Chief last December when former Acting Police Chief Michael Brunson Sr. retired from the police department.
