I am going to try and keep things as simple as possible and provide documentation to support everything I claim. My reason for this is even if I am no longer a Peace Officer I still bleed the tan and green I wore for so many years. I do not want anyone, much less our first responders to be put in the position my family was when I counted on CLEA to supplement my income and they did not.
Before I go on, I hope you take the time to look at all of the different issues I have with the coverage and denial of coverage by CLEA. Do not make the mistake of just looking at the claimed reason for denial and say, that does not apply to me so I am not worried.
The reason it does apply to you, is because the reason for denial is not in the policy language. If they can add language to my policy to deny me coverage, why do you think they will not do the same to you?
What happened to me can happen to any police officer and to a lesser degree even you hose draggers out their. But it is a very real possibility for any first responder.
I am cruising along in my career, ten years on with the department I had already been promoted three times and was just assigned to supervise the largest patrol substation in Kern County. I had all the special assignments I wanted I knew all the right people.
But years before this I began having medical problems. At 24 years old I was first diagnosed with severe hypertension just one week after my Officer Involved Shooting. Despite the fact I was in good shape at the time, standing 5'10 175 pounds my blood pressure caused me to be hospitalized multiple times over the next few years. I am not talking a little high, it was bad enough that every time I went to the hospital the triage nurse would go get the ER doctor and I was immediately given a bed and medication for fear I might have a stroke. I tried several different medications that helped, but nothing controlled the problem.
I began have low back pain about two years later. Initially I was told it was from wearing a gun belt and sitting for long periods of time. I was assigned to the Frazier Park Substation back then, and it was about a hour and a half commute each way for work. I was at the chiropractor twice a week, was treated by a sports therapist, pain shots, pain medication and went to physically therapy over the next few years. It helped some but the pain continued to get worse.
During my career and life I had never filed a single workers comp or disability claim. I worked an average of over 50 hours a week my entire adult life and volunteered extensively in my community. I competed in sports my entire life and even as a Deputy. I represented my department by boxing in Battle of Badges, winning by TKO. I earned gold and silver medals in track and field at the California Police and Fire games. I played on unofficial department soccer and softball teams. I coached several youth sports including football with our Sheriff's Activities League. But as my pain grew worse, I stopped competing and the following year I stopped coaching.
There is a clear medical history that shows treatment of my medical conditions long before I filed a claim. My medical conditions first appear shortly after a work incident that could easily create the medical issue.
I admit, I should have filed claims years early with my department. But I am not that kind of person. If I could work through it I would on my own. In addition I was afraid if the department were officially made aware of my severe high blood pressure I might be forced into an early retirement, something I absolutely did not want.
I am giving you this background not because my claim was denied for medical reasons, but to show you the type of employee I was. I was not the type of person who had a hidden agenda. I was not one of those guys trying to get a disability retirement. I was a good employee, even if I got in trouble on occasion.
I was not the type to file for or take 4850 or sick leave. On the rare occasion I called in sick, it was because either my ex wife or one of my children were in the hospital, which did happen a handful of times. It did not matter if I was hung over, sick or just tired I would go to work and just sleep in the substation until I got a call. Back then the Department mentality was minimum staffing was one deputy. The one deputy one riot mentality meant if I called in, overtime was not used to cover my shift leaving my beat partner alone for the night. So I would drag myself to work unless it was really bad.
I had been in trouble a few times during my career. A write up for cussing at a Sergeant who was a dick to my ex wife while he investigated a rumor of DV between the two of us. A rumor we both denied and was unfounded. I got written up for using four letter words when telling him what I thought of him. He got a month on the hook for the way he treated her. I got three days on the hook for hitting a guy who grabbed my wife outside of bar. Stuff I really do not regret doing.
Then in 2010 it went to shit. I worked a case that involved one of our own sexually assaulting inmates. The Commander in charged screwed everything up, resulting in her being sexually assaulted again before I was allowed to do my job. We had a bunch of victims and they botched the settlement agreements and I knew we were all headed to federal court. Tension was high, I put my complaints in writing and then the allegations against me started flying and I was walked off the job. I am not going to go into the details here, because this is about CLEA, but I never lied and the county had to pay out money to these victims just like I warned them they would.
I was on administrative leave for two and a half years. The department never reduced me to an unpaid status. I did go on an unpaid status when my doctor said I was not able to physically return to work if when the case was resolved. This was after back to back multi day stays at the heart hospital nearly two years into the investigation.
After being jerked around by CLEA and workers comp, I just stopped turning in DR notes forcing the department to start paying me again to sit at home doing nothing.
My next post will be about the actual process with CLEA and the reason for denial.
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