Officer
  • Honoring The Fallen
  • Publications
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • Forums
  • Contact Us
  • Vehicles & Fleet
  • Tactical
  • Training & Careers
  • On The Street
  • Investigations
  • Command/HQ
  • Technology
  • Virtual Academy
  • Stations
  • Podcasts
  • Product Guide
  • Topics
    Vehicles & FleetTacticalTraining & CareersOn The StreetInvestigationsCommand/HQTechnologyProduct Guide
    Resources
    ForumsProduct GuideHonoring The FallenBy ContributorsExpert InsightsPublicationsWhitepapersWebinarsOriginal ContentJobs
    User Tools
    SubscribeAdvertiseContact UsPrivacy PolicyTerms & Conditions
    https://www.facebook.com/officercom
    https://www.linkedin.com/company/officer-com
    https://twitter.com/officercom
    1. Command/HQ
    2. Supplies & Services
    3. Healthcare

    NYPD Officers Badly Stricken by COVID Hope for Disability Pension

    Jan. 10, 2022
    New York City officials had declined to approve COVID-19 pensions until disabilities linked to the disease can be studied further, but it's not sure how the new mayor will deal with the issue.

    By Rocco Parascandola

    Source New York Daily News

    Barry Williams | New York Daily News | TNS
    NYPD officers line the street outside Lt. Yvan Pierre Louis' home when he returned after a five-month hospitalization with COVID-19.
    NYPD officers line the street outside Lt. Yvan Pierre Louis' home when he returned after a five-month hospitalization with COVID-19.

    COVID-19 ended their careers — and now a small group of New York police officers hopes the city grants them the same disability pensions they would get for any other injury suffered in the line of duty.

    “I have an oxygen tank with me 24/7 and I need assistance with everything — to take a shower, to walk, to go up and down the staircase,” said Lt. Yvan Pierre Louis, a 31-year veteran who was given last rites when he got COVID early in the pandemic and was in a coma for 168 days.

    Whether Pierre Louis and other cops badly sickened by coronavirus will be granted pensions will be decided by the board of the city Police Pension Fund.

    In the last months of former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration, city officials declined to approve COVID-19 pensions until disabilities linked to the disease can be studied further.

    It is not clear yet how Mayor Eric Adams’ administration will deal with this issue. But the cops involved say they can’t work, and would like to provide for their families as best they can while they grapple with life-changing medical woes.

    “I’m not the same person I was before,” said Pierre Louis, 60, who took sick in March 2020 while working with prisoners at Manhattan Central Booking, at 100 Centre St.

    “There were no masks,” he said. “The only people who had masks were the judges and the lawyers. I worked there one day, but one day was enough to make me sick.”

    He’s been out sick ever since and will likely be ruled disabled by the NYPD when he files for retirement.

    Whether Pierre Louis gets a disability pension could hinge on what the Pension Board decides in the case of Detective Mike Smith.

    The veteran Bronx detective boasts he never took a sick day in more than 30 years on the force until he was stricken — which he thinks might have happened either when he interviewed a stabbing victim at St. Barnabas Hospital, or on a visit to Rikers Island.

    Like Pierre Louis, Smith, 58, ended up on a ventilator and was given last rites, and still pulled through.

    He’s a shell of his former self, and at one point was so weak he couldn’t lift the iPad his family gave him while he was in the hospital. He has Stage 4 kidney disease, nerve damage in his feet and hardened arteries in his ankles.

    “We’ve made a lot of progress, but I’m one blood test away from being back on dialysis,” Smith said. “The old saying: ‘Can you walk and chew gum at the same time?’ I can’t, because I have stabilization issues. I have to concentrate when I walk because if I don’t, I stumble.”

    NYPD doctors declared him disabled, unable to ever work again as a cop. But for now, he is out sick, and also waiting to see if the Police Pension Fund approves his disability pension.

    To get a pension, Smith and other COVID-stricken cops will need a majority vote from the Pension Fund’s 12-member board of trustees. The police unions have six votes on the board, and various city officials, including the mayor and police commissioner, have the other six votes.

    Nick Cifuni, a disability lawyer who works for four of the police unions, said the city in recent months appeared concerned that approving forever-sick cops for disability pensions could open the floodgates if other officers are similarly afflicted.

    A key question, Cifuni said, is whether Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell will side with the unions. The NYPD on Friday wouldn’t say if Sewell has taken a position on the issue.

    Lou Turco, who heads the Lieutenants Benevolent Association, noted that cops “have not had the luxury of working from home or not coming to work.”

    Smith, who on some days exercises as much as possible and on others spends 20 hours in bed, hopes the city realizes he and others like him are not looking for a handout — rather a just compensation for working through a pandemic while much of the city was shut down.

    “I did what I was supposed to do,” he said. “All of us did.”

    Paul DiGiacomo, head of the Detectives’ Endowment Association, said the city has “an obligation to provide Mike every and any type of line-of-duty benefit possible.”

    “He earned it, and deserves nothing less,” DiGiacomo said.

    With Michael Gartland

    ______

    ©2022 New York Daily News.

    Visit nydailynews.com.

    Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

    Continue Reading

    Philly Transit Police Officer Shoots Knife-Wielding Man who Stabbed 3

    New Orleans' Next Police Chief Sworn In: 'This Is About Me Serving You'

    Sponsored Recommendations

    Whitepaper: A New Paradigm in Digital Investigations

    July 28, 2023
    Modernize your agency’s approach to get ahead of the digital evidence challenge

    A New Paradigm in Digital Investigations

    June 6, 2023
    Modernize your agency’s approach to get ahead of the digital evidence challenge.

    Listen to Real-Time Emergency 911 Calls in the Field

    Feb. 8, 2023
    Discover advanced technology that allows officers in the field to listen to emergency calls from their vehicles in real time and immediately identify the precise location of the...

    2022 Transparency and Trust Report - Public Safety & Community Relationships

    Nov. 16, 2022
    Veritone releases its 2022 Law Enforcement Transparency and Trust Report delivering Five Key Findings of Community Sentiment on Policing

    Voice your opinion!

    To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of Officer, create an account today!

    I already have an account

    Latest in Healthcare

    Healthcare

    Wounded Mo. Police Officer Returns Home after Months of Treatment

    Nov. 22, 2023
    Mel Melcon | Los Angeles Times | TNS
    Healthcare

    Calif. Sheriff's Department Rocked by 4 Suicides in 24-Hour Span

    Nov. 8, 2023
    Beaumont Police officer found unresponsive beneath I-10 overpass
    Healthcare

    Texas Police Officer Found Unresponsive under Overpass

    Joe Vince
    Nov. 1, 2023

    Most Read

    Keeping an Eye on Traffic with Automatic License Plate Readers

    Wounded Mo. Police Officer Returns Home after Months of Treatment

    Man with Rifle Shot after Following Calif. Police Officer Near Station

    Sponsored

    Whitepaper: A New Paradigm in Digital Investigations

    Officer
    https://www.facebook.com/officercom
    https://www.linkedin.com/company/officer-com
    https://twitter.com/officercom
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Do Not Sell or Share
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms & Conditions
    © 2023 Endeavor Business Media, LLC. All rights reserved.
    Endeavor Business Media Logo