Um, never mind 

Only two months after he filed to sue the county for “violation of civil rights” and “retaliation,” a former sergeant and union leader for the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Department quietly asked to drop his case.

Dale Strobridge was fired from the department on Feb. 25, 2011. He filed a lawsuit against the county on March 13 of this year claiming that he was retaliated against after he found private personnel files on an easily accessible drive in the department’s computer system.

Soon after the case was filed, county officials filed a response rebutting Strobridge’s allegations, and in fact alleged that Strobridge improperly downloaded private files for his own gain.

According to court documents, Strobridge asked the court on May 21 to dismiss his case outright. There was no reason cited for the dismissal.

Strobridge didn’t return repeated calls for comment.

The request wasn’t part of any settlement agreement with the county. Sheriff Ian Parkinson told New Times the news was no surprise. Parkinson said he felt it was necessary for the county to promptly file a response to Strobridge’s lawsuit. He said he feels, when it came to firing Strobridge, “What we did was the right thing.”