YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — A former East Liverpool police officer filed a civil rights suit Monday in federal court, alleging the city and department fired him for reporting on misconduct by fellow officers to the FBI.

Christopher Green, of Columbiana, filed the suit in the U.S. Northern District Court of Ohio. He is represented by Youngstown attorney Martin P. Desmond and Cleveland attorneys Donald Screen and Subodh Chandra.

Green was placed on leave in March 2021 after an investigation into a fight call he answered involving former Safety Service Director Brian Allen. Green was fired in June 2021 after police officials said Green lied about what happened during the fight. He appealed the firing, but it was upheld by an arbitrator.

The case has been assigned to U.S. Judge John R. Adams. There have been no hearing dates set, according to court records.

In his suit, Green says he was fired after engaging “in constitutionally protected free speech — as a private citizen — by reporting misconduct and criminal behavior by other police officers to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”

The suit said after Green made his reports, Mayor Gregory Bricker, Safety Service Director David Dawson, Captains Fred Flati, Darin Morgan and Chad Tatgenhorst as well as officer Robert Ramsey retaliated against him by making false complaints against him, which led to Green being suspended and ultimately fired.

Bricker, Dawson and the police officers were also named defendants in the suit.

Green is seeking compensatory damages including back pay as well as punitive damages.

In 2017, Green became severely ill after handling fentanyl during a traffic stop. It took him several months to recover.