Lang
4/20/24
A jury has determined that an Iowa City Police officer’s resignation was valid, despite his assertions that it had been coerced.
26-year-old Emilio Puente previously worked with the Johnson County Ambulance Service before being hired by the ICPD in April of 2019. Puente had asked the court to reverse the City of Iowa City’s decision to not rescind his letter of resignation, effectively reinstating him as a city employee.
The city started an inquiry into Puente after an incident on November 7th of 2021 where a suspect resisted arrest and an altercation ensued.
In his lawsuit against the city, Puente claimed he was summoned to Chief Dustin Liston’s office on February 3rd of 2022 and was allegedly informed that he had two hours to submit his resignation or he would be fired. He added that he was advised by veteran co-workers that if he didn’t resign, he would most likely never work in law enforcement again.
The city says Puente showed up to the meeting with a union representative and submitted his resignation before Liston could issue a decision. They also claim that Puente’s request to rescind the resignation letter to the Civil Service Commission was received outside the 14 day window allowed.
Puente claimed in court that his resignation had been made under duress and was therefore invalid. The jury disagreed.