RIVERSIDE, Calif., March 11 (UPI) -- A former Marine who lost his job as a police officer after he was charged with war crimes has sued the city of Riverside, Calif., for failing to rehire him.
Jose Luis Nazario Jr. in his lawsuit says the city violated the U.S. Uniformed Services Employment and Re-employment Act by dismissing him and then not reinstating him after he was acquitted of voluntary manslaughter and assault with a dangerous weapon, The Riverside Press-Enterprise reports. His lawyer, in court papers, said a supervisor told him he would be "back on the job in no time" when he went to the police department the day of his acquittal.
Riverside City Attorney Greg Priamos said state law bars him from disclosing why Nazario was terminated and not rehired.
Nazario is seeking $9 million for lost wages and other damage done by his firing.
When he was arrested in August 2007, Nazario was near the end of Riverside's 18-month probationary period. He was charged with killing civilians in 2004 in Fallujah.
Nazario received an honorable discharge a year later. He was the first veteran to be tried in a civilian U.S. court for alleged war crimes in Iraq.
