Accidental Disability Retirement Benefits (Police Officers)
The Third Department confirmed the comptroller’s determination that the injuries suffered by a police officer were not the result of “accidents” and therefore did not justify the award of accidental disability retirement benefits. The officer slipped on a wet metal-encased curb while directing traffic and was subsequently injured again when a suspect he was chasing resisted arrest. The Third Department wrote:
Initially, we note that petitioner has the burden of demonstrating that he is entitled to receive accidental disability retirement benefits, and the Comptroller’s determination will be upheld if supported by substantial evidence … . In order to qualify as an accident, the precipitating event must be “a sudden, fortuitous mischance that is unexpected, out of the ordinary and injurious in impact” … . Notably, an injury will not be considered accidental if it “‘results from an expected or foreseeable event arising during the performance of routine employment duties'” … . Matter of Rodriques v DiNapoli, 515935, 3rd Dept 10-3-13