More Than 150 Minneapolis Police Officers File PTSD Claims, Prepare To Leave The Force
JOHN SEXTONPosted at 8:31 pm on July 11, 2020
A lawyer who represents police officers has been contacted by more than 150 current officers who seek to file for disability benefits, a move taken before they leave the force. Most of the officers claim they are suffering from PTSD and that the stressful situation since the killing of George Floyd has become the last straw.
“While law enforcement is a high-stress career, the last two months in Minneapolis have pushed many officers to their breaking point,†Meuser said…
Among Meuser’s clients are officers who were inside the city’s 3rd Precinct police station, which was abandoned and subsequently burned during the May protests here. At least 13 officers were inside the building at the time, Meuser said, and some wrote what they thought were final texts to family members and loved ones fearing they would be killed. Ordered to stand down to protesters, some of the officers had fearfully counted their ammunition to make sure they would have a bullet for themselves to avoid being beaten to death, he said…
The 150 officers represent about 20 percent of the Minneapolis Police Department’s force of approximately 800. Meuser warned Friday that the number of officers seeking to file disability claims is likely to grow based on the inquiries his office has received.
The back story to all of this is that the Minneapolis City Council is working to “reimagine†the police force, a process that could take years to work out assuming the council can get its plan on the ballot and that it passes. Meanwhile, some neighborhoods have committed themselves to not calling police at all. The immediate result of all of this has been a surge in violence in the city:
https://hotair.com/archives/john-s-2/2020/07/11/150-minneapolis-police-officers-file-ptsd-claims-prepare-leave-force/