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Cop Shot In Stationhouse, With Her Own Gun, Gets $325,000
By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 29, 2011
Modified Mar 29, 2011
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By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 29, 2011
Modified Mar 29, 2011
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A police officer who shot herself in the hand at at Manhattan police precinct is taking a $325,000 settlement to end a lawsuit over pension discrimination. According to the Daily News, the deal came "on the eve of jury selection in Brooklyn Federal Court leaves unresolved the question of exactly who shot Officer Pamela Walker in the Midtown South stationhouse."
In the suit, Walker said that Lt. John Dietz "accidentally depressed the trigger" when returning the gun to her during a 2002 weapons inspection. Plus, Dietz ran out of the room "without rendering aid." (The police said Walker was at fault for not controlling the gun.) But, according to the News, it was the pension that prompted the suit:
Walker was approved for a line-of-duty pension by an NYPD panel of doctors, but the pension board deadlocked on the issue and she ended up with a far less lucrative "ordinary disability" pension, which is taxable.
Her lawyers pointed out that at least two male cops had been awarded tax-free pensions after negligently shooting themselves.
"Although the NYPD will not admit liability in the case, the settlement indicates that Ms. Walker was not negligent," said her lawyer, Jeffery Goldberg of Lake Success, L.I.
One poster on the NYPD messageboard said the settlement seemed obvious, "If you sue the NYPD or NYC and you do not claim that you were kidnapped by space aliens or vampires in NYPD uniforms, you'll probably get a check eventually."
In related cop-shoots-self news, an appeals court threw out a cop's $5 million lawsuit against the city: "Anderson Alexander was holding his partner's gun while the other detective processed a prisoner. The gun fired when Alexander leaned back in his chair to stick it in his waistband. Alexander, 52, insisted that the back of the chair snapped back and caused him to pull the trigger accidentally."
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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