WINSTON-SALEM (AP) — Two of three former Mocksville police officers who won a $4 million judgment after being fired by the city want their jobs back.

Lt. Rick Donathan and Detective Jerry Medlin asked a federal court to return them to their jobs in a motion Tuesday after Mocksville’s town manager retired.

Donathan, Medlin and Maj. Ken Hunter sued the town after they were fired in December 2011 and a jury awarded them $4.1 million after a trial in May.

All the officers asked for their jobs back after the verdict, but a judge sided with Town Manager Christine Bralley, who said Mocksville would have to fire other officers to make room and there was animosity toward the officers who sued with others on the force, The Winston-Salem Journal reported.

District Judge Thomas D. Schroeder also reduced the amount awarded the officers to $1.8 million.

Bralley retired on Nov. 1. Her replacement has not been hired.

Bralley and former Mocksville Police Chief Robert Cook fired the officers after they reported possible corruption to state officials. The town manager and police chief said the officers were fired because of poor performance and they did not know the men had called the governor and Attorney General’s Office.

But testimony showed Bralley obtained the officers’ cellphone records and tried to get information from other phones used by the officers two days before they were fired. Bralley said she was trying to see if the officers were making too many personal calls on town-issued phones.

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