Officer With PTSD Sues St. Louis-Area PD for Firing Him, Denying Benefits
Wednesday, May 3, 2017 | 0
A former St. Louis-area police officer's disability discrimination lawsuit against his former employer goes to trial this week, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.
Kirk Lawless, 57, sued the Florissant Police Department, the city of Florissant and his former bosses four years ago after he was denied treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, then fired, in the wake of fatally shooting a robbery suspect.
The state of Missouri allows employees to file workers' compensation claims for mental ailments that do not have a physical component. The Florissant Police Department, however, required Lawless to use sick time and take a family leave when he disclosed his PTSD diagnosis, instead of granting him workers' compensation benefits, according to the lawsuit.
"Never sent me to a doctor. I literally begged them for help," Lawless told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
The department fired him in 2012 because he was, according to court filings made by the city, "not able to perform his essential job functions as a police officer." The city had rejected his request to take on a light-duty position, saying such a position "did not exist" at the department.
Lawless was diagnosed with PTSD in 2010, one year after fatally shooting Jhmari McCoy, 18, on a home invasion call. McCoy and at least three others had forced their way into the home of Michael L. Jackson, then 25, and his stepfather, carrying guns and looking for Jackson's brother. According to Jackson, the men pistol-whipped the two residents, ransacked the house in search of money, and threatened to kill him and his stepfather, before police arrived.
Lawless said he shot McCoy after the 18-year-old ran toward him with a gun outside the house. Now, he said, he relives that moment almost every day. The home invasion marked the only time Lawless had shot anyone in his 28-year career.
Read the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's story here.
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