Pension board sharply reduces payments to cops injured in the line of duty
23rd April 2018 · 0 Comments
Former law enforcement officers critically wounded in the line of duty have had their lifetime pensions cut in half and are being forced to pay back hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“You’re looking at these things as numbers, you’re looking at things as a value,” former NOPD Officer Chris Ahner said Wednesday. “You are forgetting that we are people. Not only are we people, but we are public servants who are sworn to protect you.”
Standing before the Board of Trustees for the Municipal Police Employees’ Retirement System, Ahner explained how he nearly gave his life for the New Orleans Police Department.
“I got hit by a car going 70 miles per hour,” he told the board. “I broke my neck, my hips have been fractured, both of my legs nearly ripped completely off.”
In February of 2000, another drunk police officer slammed into Ahner. The 33-year-old spent months in the hospital and had to learn how to walk again. Years later, the pension board told Ahner that he’d receive a disability pension for life. But in March, the board rescinded that decision, voting instead to give Ahner 40 percent of his pension, and requiring him to pay back over $200,000 in money he’s already received.
Ahner showed up at Wednesday’s meeting, pleading his case.
“Are you kidding me? You guys represent me,” Ahner pleaded.
Emotionally he continued, “My family, my family is impacted by this.”
FOX 8 News reported that Ahner isn’t the only former law enforcement officer affected. Others received the same life-changing news from the board.
“You guys took the 11 or so of the most severely injured in the state of Louisiana and you took out the sickles and you whacked the heads off on over half of them,” Ahner said to board members.
Benjamin Huxen, executive director and general counsel for the Retirement System, countered, “We’re not talking about if someone is entitled to disability or not, it’s the 100 percent benefit and whether the accident occurred on or after July 1, 2003.”
In 2003, the law pertaining to disability pensions was re-written. The law says that if someone suffers the loss of a limb after July 1, 2003, they’re eligible for a full pension. But before that date is another story.
Ahner contends, although he didn’t lose a limb, he can’t perform the functions of a police officer.
Confusion about the law and Ahner’s fate was evident at Wednesday’s meeting.
“Unfortunately, we have to follow the law and in following the law, sometimes it doesn’t include deserving people,” board member Donald Villere said.
Board member Larry Reech commented, “We had attorneys look at the law,” board member Larry Reech explained. “He was disabled under the 100 percent — we gave it to him. Eighteen years later, we’re going back and he’s had what, 100 surgeries. When all of this started with Joey Norman and all them, these are the kinds of cases you leave them alone. You leave those guys alone, for Christ’s sake.”
Most of the board members agree that the law should be changed yet again.
This article originally published in the April 23, 2018 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
