Iraq Marine Veteran With PTSD Tormented by Coworkers

Corrections Officer Says PTSD Treated As Joke
Courthouse News
By DAVID KLEIN

March 23, 2015

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (CN) - A corrections officer and former Marine was repeatedly discriminated against by his supervisors and co-workers who saw his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as something to ridicule, the Iraq War veteran claims in a lawsuit.

Christopher Fustos served in the Marine Corps in Iraq from February 2004 through November 2007, and was honorably discharged after being wounded in combat. According to the complaint he filed in the Knoxville Federal Court, the wounding was caused by an exploding hand grenade, and the explosion left him with numerous scars on his back.

Fustos was hired by Knox County, Tenn. on March 26, 2012, to work as a corrections officer. He says the discrimination he experienced began just over two years later, when, while working on July 4, a fellow officer yelled, "So Fustos, those scars on your back, are they direction arrows for your boyfriend so he knows where to stick it?"

"During this incident, Mr. Fustos' superiors (Lieutenants) were among the crowd laughing and cheering," the complaint says.

"Multiple incidents of discrimination and harassment occurred thereafter."

Fustos goes on to claim that during another incident his "co-workers took facility-provided gloves, and popped them loudly behind Mr. Fustos' ears, stating, 'Hey, I'm helping you with your PTSD! Its therapy for you!!'"

In addition he says, on two separate occasions stated in front of his fellow officers, "Hey Fustos, when your PTSD kicks in and you shoot up the place, remember who was nice to you and who gives you time off!"
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