Judge To Rule On Demand For Records By Fort Worth Police Chief Joel Fitzgerald

FORT WORTH (1080 KRLD) - A judge in Dallas says she will rule late today or early tomorrow on a demand for records by former Fort Worth police chief Joel Fitzgerald in his whistle-blower lawsuit. 

In court records, Fitzgerald claims within two hours of a scheduled meeting with the FBI to report corruption in Fort Worth City Hall, he was fired as police chief.

Fitzgerald says he was investigating the destruction of public records by two top city officials, records that dealt with access to a guarded federal crime database.

Fitzgerald claims he was about to arrest the two officials when he was fired.

The documents say Fitzgerald was hauled into a meeting and told he was being dismissed, and he could either take a lump sum payment and keep quiet, or he could fight the dismissal and wait a long time for his money.

Fitzgerald said he would not be silenced.

Since that firing, Fitzgerald has filed a whistle-blower lawsuit and says he has been barred from getting access to records to show his dismissal was in retaliation. 

The city is denying the claims and trying to slow down the legal process. 

Associate Judge Monica Purdy says she will issue a ruling either late today or early tomorrow.