BATON ROUGE- Four days before the statute of limitations would have expired, former high-ranking State Police Chief of Staff Charles Dupuy sued his former employer, the State of Louisiana and the Department of Public Safety, after a trooper crashed into him in December 2019.

The lawsuit filed in the 19th Judicial District Court said, "DPS caused and/or contributed to the subject collision due to their negligent hiring, training and or supervision of defendant William Ray Stogner.”

The lawsuit alleges Dupuy was in his 2019 Dodge Ram on Highway 446 near Highway 190 in Tangipahoa Parish when Trooper William Ray Stogner ran a red light and struck Dupuy's vehicle.

"At the time of the [crash], defendant William Ray Stogner was allegedly responding to an emergency call with his emergency lights activated. Upon information and reasonable belief and pursuant to defendant DPS policy, the call defendant William Ray Stogner was responding to did not require emergency sirens, did not allow defendant William Ray Stogner to disregard traffic signals, and did not allow defendant William Ray Stogner to disregard the safety of the public."

The lawsuit says Stogner did not stop his unit at the intersection or activate his warning siren as required by DPS' policy.

According to the lawsuit, Dupuy has suffered injuries, damages and losses including mental and physical pain and other injuries. Dupuy also claims his daughter, Shelby suffered injuries from the crash.

Dupuy is suing for an unspecified amount of damages along with court costs.

The WBRZ Investigative Unit found the last available payroll records for Dupuy show he was making $161,304.78 for part of 2017. Dupuy retired from State Police in 2018. Dupuy's wife Kelly is a Captain for Louisiana State Police currently earning $131,672.84 according to records.

Sources said Dupuy had long been considered the next in line to become State Police's superintendent, but that didn't happen after Colonel Mike Edmonson's abrupt retirement. Kevin Reeves was appointed instead, and Reeves also abruptly resigned a few months ago after a series of controversies highlighted by the WBRZ Investigative Unit.

WBRZ asked Louisiana State Police for a comment; When one is provided, this story will be updated.