A former Salt Lake City police narcotics sergeant, who failed a drug test in 2006, has filed a lawsuit for $1 million, claiming his privacy rights were violated when authorities released his drug test results to the public and media outlets.

In his civic suit filed Jan. 9, Ryan Atack claims the Salt Lake City Police Department and the state of Utah breached his privacy and intentionally inflicted emotional distress by releasing the information.

The Utah Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Council voted in June 2007 to decertify Atack after he failed the drug test administered in the summer of 2006.

Atack first came under suspicion on July 19, 2006, when a supervisor noticed him acting strange and agitated, according to a POST report. The police department asked Atack to take a urinalysis, which tested positive for amphetamines, the POST report states. The department placed him on administrative leave and he later resigned.

A police department investigation revealed "Atack had been addicted to controlled substances for some time," according to the POST report. In June 2007, Atack pleaded guilty to trying to pass a bogus prescription in American Fork in February of that year.

Atack states in his lawsuit that he would not have taken the drug test if the department had not assured him that his drug history would remain confidential. Because of the news publicity surrounding his drug results, Atack claims he was fired from his subsequent job "because of damage done to his reputation."

 

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