Officer mistakenly shot by fellow cop is wrongly fired in Alabama, lawsuit says
A former Alabama police officer is suing to get his job back, saying he was fired for “no valid legal reason” after another officer accidentally shot him as they tried to arrest a suspect.
Ryan Pinyan spent a week in the intensive care unit, then more time in the hospital, following the shooting in Oneonta, a city in northern Alabama, on Nov. 20, 2023, according to his lawsuit. The case was filed in Blount County Circuit Court in February, then was transferred to federal court on April 2.
Though Pinyan was released from the hospital in mid-December 2023, his gunshot wound prevented him from returning to his job as a K-9 officer with the Oneonta Police Department, a complaint says. As a result, he started receiving workers compensation.
Pinyan had been a K-9 officer since early 2021, after years of working as a patrolman for the city.
Following Pinyan’s hospitalization, he was seemingly accused of wrongdoing months later, during an encounter with Oneonta Police Chief Charles Clifton, according to the complaint.
Clifton, a defendant in Pinyan’s lawsuit, didn’t immediately return McClatchy News’ request for comment April 15.
The complaint says Pinyan was heading to court to serve as a witness for a grand jury in Blount County when Clifton stopped him on May 6, 2024.
Clifton, who was with an investigator, “demanded that (Pinyan) sign a stack of checks that had been written for his workers compensation injuries before going to the grand jury,” Pinyan’s legal counsel wrote in the filing.
Then Clifton had the investigator, a corporal, read Pinyan his “Garrity” rights, according to the complaint.
Police officers and other public employees have Garrity rights, which protect them from potential criminal repercussions when they’re questioned as part of an internal investigation, according to the Disparti Law Group, a Chicago-based firm. These legal protections have been in place since Garrity v. New Jersey, a case ruled on by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1967.
After reading Pinyan his rights, the corporal made him sign a form related to his workers compensation, the complaint says. Then he asked Pinyan personal questions about his relationships with different women, including some who were single and others who were married, according to the complaint.
He “appeared to be trying to allege that plaintiff Pinyan had mistreated them or had some type of relationship with them,” the complaint says.
Fired from the department
Days later, on May 10, Clifton had Pinyan give up his weapon, according to the complaint.
He was fired that day, without explanation, the complaint says.
“Officer Pinyan was not given any reason for his termination,” Pinyan’s attorney, William P. Gray Jr., of Gray & Associates in Birmingham, said in an emailed statement to McClatchy News on April 15.
“He was not given any indication that there were any charges made or pending against him,” Gray added.
Denied money for K-9’s medical care
In the wake of his firing, the Oneonta Police Department let Pinyan keep his K-9, according to the lawsuit.
At the time, his dog was injured and needed medical care, the complaint says. His K-9, named Boogieman, was badly hurt when he got hit by a car in January 2021, AL.com reported.
“Boogieman was struck by a vehicle while in the line of duty, causing severe damage to his hind leg,” Pinyan wrote in a GoFundMe for the K-9, adding that the dog “will have to go under an intensive surgery to repair his rear, left leg.”
According to Pinyan’s lawsuit, he raised more than $10,000 for Boogieman’s medical treatment and future medical care.
But Clifton wouldn’t let him “receive any” of the funds, the complaint says.
When asked why, Gray told McClatchy News that Pinyan “was not given any reason (for) the denial of money.”
Boogieman “has recovered some, but still needs surgery,” Gray said.
In addition to Clifton, Pinyan also brought his lawsuit against the city of Oneonta and three unnamed parties. Oneonta is about a 40-mile drive northeast from Birmingham.
All defendants are represented by attorneys Allen L. Anderson and Patrick E. Sebesta, of F&B Law Firm PC in Huntsville.
Anderson and Sebesta didn’t immediately return McClatchy News’ request for comment April 15.
Since the case was moved to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, Clifton and the city have motioned to dismiss Pinyan’s lawsuit, records show.
Pinyan has to respond to their motions by April 25, the court ordered on April 11.
With his lawsuit, Pinyan is seeking relief, including a declaration “that defendants and their agents have conspired to avoid all applicable state and federal statutory and constitutional law regarding due process and allowing Plaintiff Pinyan to receive sum of money he had raised for his K9,” the filing says.
He wants to be reinstated as an officer and asks for his seniority status to be restored, the complaint shows.
Pinyan also wants back pay, benefits and an unspecified amount in damages, according to the complaint.
“(Pinyan) has suffered damage as a result of the unlawful actions of defendants which have also caused the violation of his constitutional rights to due process,” the complaint says.
This story was originally published April 15, 2025 at 4:32 PM with the headline "Officer mistakenly shot by fellow cop is wrongly fired in Alabama, lawsuit says."
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