BATON ROUGE - An appeals court sided with three fired Baton Rouge Police officers, agreeing with a lower court's decision that they could continue in a legal fight against their former employer. 

Former BRPD Street Crimes Unit officers Doug Chutz, Troy Lawrence Sr., and Todd Thomas filed a lawsuit against BRPD Chief TJ Morse and the Civil Service Board.

The three were arrested in 2024 in connection with the alleged beating of a suspect that happened four years earlier in a bathroom in BRPD's First District Precinct. The abuse was reportedly caught on an officer's body cam. 

The three were fired from the department on Sept. 20, 2024. The Civil Service Board declined to reinstate them after a hearing four months later. 

Chutz, Lawrence, and Thomas requested a judicial review on Feb. 11, 2025, asking to be reinstated. The three argue that they were fired before criminal proceedings could finish. 

The police department filed a motion to dismiss near the end of the year, which was denied by Judge Richard "Chip" Moore. Attorneys for BRPD then appealed the decision, which was denied by the First Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday.