Former Florida police officer says he was forced to resign for defying illegal DeSantis orders

Desguin said the administration retaliated against him with an internal investigation that alleged he had a sexual relationship with a subordinate and recklessly pointed his unloaded gun at a female colleague during an impromptu class on self-defense against an armed attacker.

The investigation came after Desguin reported violations of rules, regulations or laws and abuse of office, and his forced resignation was retaliation for failure to follow those instructions, the lawsuit says.

DeSantis’ office referred to the internal investigation mentioned in the lawsuit when asked about the suit. Spokesman Jeremy Redfern sent The Associated Press a post he wrote on X after news of the lawsuit emerged.

“This guy was investigated and it turns out he pointed his gun at someone in his office,” Redfern said on X. “If I had done that in the military, I would have been court-martialed.”

DeSantis ordered the state to fly nearly 50 migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, two years ago. The flight made a brief stop in Florida. The move sparked a lawsuit and a criminal investigation over allegations the migrants were misled and not told where they were going.

Desguin alleged in his lawsuit that the DeSantis administration floated the idea of ​​busing immigrants from Texas to Florida and then flying them to Massachusetts, and raised concerns that the measure could be illegal.

But DeSantis’ chief of staff, James Uthmeier, said it was “imperative to conduct at least ‘one flight’ of migrants from Florida to another state,” the lawsuit says. Uthmeier added that he could be fired if the order was not followed.

Last year, Uthmeier’s interim successor, Alex Kelly, called Desguin and said DeSantis wanted to arrest neo-Nazi protesters in Orlando. Desguin responded that he could not arrest anyone exercising their First Amendment rights, the lawsuit says.

“I don’t think you understand,” Kelly told Desguin, according to the lawsuit. “If you look hard enough, you can find a way. The governor wants someone arrested today.”

DeSantis continued to push for an arrest despite being told that arrests were unconstitutional. After a few days, the department began making arrests for illegally placing a banner on a freeway overpass.