News

Tenn. Council Approves Funds for July Shooting`s First Responders

Steve Johnson

01/20/2016

Jan. 20--Chattanooga police officers and other city employees will be allowed to accept $1,000 checks for the psychological trauma they suffered during the July 16 shooting attacks, the City Council ruled Tuesday.

City code currently forbids employees from accepting gifts for services performed in the normal course of their jobs. But the code allows the City Council to approve exceptions and the council did that on a 9-1 vote. Councilman Larry Grohn voted against the measure.

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Twenty-eight police officers and other city employees applied for the $1,000 payments, all claiming they suffered psychological trauma as a result of the shootings that killed five people and injured numerous others. The payments are from the National Compassion Fund, part of the nonprofit National Center for Victims of Crime, which took in more than $467,000 in donations for the victims of the attack.

That had drawn criticism from other police officers, in particular several of those who actually confronted the attacker, Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez.

Officer Sean O'Brien, one of the five officers who exchanged fire with the 24-year-old gunman, opposed the payments.

"I can't speak for anybody who filled out the paperwork, I can't speak to their intent," he said last week. "I can just say from my perspective, it undermines our ethics and our sworn position in this community."

O'Brien declined to discuss the matter further Tuesday.

The major beneficiary of the council vote will be Officer Dennis Pedigo, who was shot in the ankle. Several fundraisers have been held on his behalf, but he would have been unable to accept the money raised without council approval.

Several council members said they had reservations about the proposal.

Councilman Yusuf Hakeem asked City Attorney Wade Hinton if he had any indication whether similar actions in other towns hurt morale in the police department. Hakeem said he was concerned that officers who are involved in less-publicized but equally traumatic incidents will feel they are not being treated fairly.

Grohn had a similar objection, noting first responders frequently encounter horrendous incidents for which they receive no special compensation.

"There is a silent epidemic of suicide among first responders," he said after the council vote, adding that the city needs to develop a comprehensive policy for dealing with psychological trauma beyond paying first responders for certain events and not others.

Police Chief Fred Fletcher declined to get involved in the controversy, noting that while police rules don't forbid officers from accepting gifts, they are bound by the city code.

Mayor Andy Berke also avoided taking a position on the payments.

"We relied on the National Compassion Fund to recognize those who were directly impacted by an event of this magnitude and take appropriate action," he said in a statement last week.

Most of the money raised by the National Compassion Fund will go to the families of the five men who died in the attack, with $331,490 set aside for their estates. Three people who were physically injured will receive another $61,800, and $45,000 will go to 26 people who survived the shootings.

Contact staff writer Steve Johnson at sjohnson@timesfreepress.com, 423-757-6673, on Twitter @stevejohnsonTFP or on Facebook, facebook.com/noogahealth.