Police Officer Fights to Heal PTSD--And Justice After Being Fired

Fired cop sues N. Platte, says city didn't accommodate his PTSD after fatal shooting

Lincoln Journal Star

Lori Pilger

August 20, 2017

Pelster said after Harms lost his job he went to the Nebraska Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which found reasonable cause to believe the city had discriminated against Harms on the basis of disability.

A former North Platte police officer has sued the city, alleging he was wrongfully terminated after he sought disability benefits for PTSD, which he developed after taking the life of an armed man.

Rick Harms is asking a federal judge to reinstate his job and award him back pay and benefits, according to the lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court in Omaha.

The city has not yet responded to the suit.

According to the lawsuit, Harms had worked as a patrolman with the North Platte Police Department for nearly 10 years when, early March 25, 2011, he shot and killed Marlon Johnson, a 60-year-old man who had pulled two knives on officers in the station's lobby.

A grand jury later cleared Harms and another officer involved of any wrongdoing.

But Harms developed post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of having to take the life of the armed assailant in the course of his duties as a police officer, his attorney, Glenn Pelster, said in the complaint.

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 Man shot and killed at police station