Louisville, Kentucky, is paying $75,000 to a police officer who says he was suspended for four months after offering up an off-duty prayer outside an abortion clinic.
Matthew Schrenger, a 13-year veteran of the Louisville Metro Police Department, stood with his father and prayed outside the EMW Women’s Surgical Center in downtown Louisville at 6 a.m. on Feb. 20, 2021, two hours before his shift began.
Mr. Schrenger wore a coat over his uniform and was not identifiable as a police officer, said his attorney, Matt Heffron of the Thomas More Society.
Mr. Schrenger said he was suspended when a complaint was made to his bosses. He received his salary during the suspension and was cleared of charges by Police Chief Erika Shields and reinstated on June 15.
He sued the city and the police department in October.
“The unfair discipline revealed undeniably content-based discrimination against Officer Schrenger’s personal pro-life views and violated his First Amendment rights,” Mr. Heffron said in a statement.
According to Mr. Heffron, the praying policeman “was treated very differently than other officers who had undeniably engaged in true political protest and activism while participating in LGBT and Black Lives Matter demonstrations.”
The Thomas More Society asserted that open-records requests to the Louisville Metro Police Department revealed that those uniformed officers who demonstrated for Black Lives Matter and at gay rights events “suffered no suspension, and, in fact, no discipline whatsoever.”
According to Mr. Heffron, “The treatment of Officer Schreger was particularly galling considering other Louisville police officers previously had marched, while on duty and in uniform, in political protests that apparently were approved by the police department.”
Blaine Blood, who also represented the officer, said the settlement “reflects a vindication” of the policeman’s religious freedom.
“The [police disciplinary] process was a punishment, and especially when you’re talking about a constitutional injury, we felt like that needed to be addressed,” Mr. Blood said in a telephone interview.
Requests for comment from Louisville Mayor Greg Fisher, the Metro Police Department, and the Jefferson County Attorney’s Office did not receive an immediate response.
• Mark A. Kellner can be reached at mkellner@washingtontimes.com.
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