Officer afflicted with PTSD at Sandy Hook deserves to be treated with compassion
Danbury News Times
December 3, 2013
The mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown on Dec. 14, 2012, took the lives of 20 first-graders and six educators and forever changed the lives of family members, first responders, educators, students and other community residents.
One of those first responders, Newtown Police Officer Thomas Bean, was so greatly affected by what he experienced at the horrific scene in Sandy Hook that day that he has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and has been unable to return to work.
Bean, a 12-year veteran of the force, has been declared 100 percent disabled and is now collecting half of his salary under a long-term disability policy negotiated between the Newtown police union and the town.
Unfortunately, Newtown Police Chief Michael Kehoe earlier this year informed Bean that he would not be able to continue to receive the disability payment for much longer, even though he was disabled in the line of duty.
Instead, Kehoe told Bean, he had three choices: resign, retire at a significantly reduced benefit from what he would receive after the normal 25-year retirement mark, or get fired. Kehoe has since recommended to the Newtown Police Commission that Bean be terminated.
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Showing posts with label Newtown CT. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Newtown CT. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Sandy Hook massacre leaves Cop with PTSD and job threat
Is this yet one more case of superior stupidity regarding PTSD? Seems like it. Why else would a superior threaten a cop with being fired?
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Newtown's Police Officers Are Already Showing Signs of PTSD
Newtown's Police Officers Are Already Showing Signs of PTSD
Slate.com
By Josh Voorhees
Jan. 29, 2013
The New York Times has a rather haunting piece in today's paper based on interviews with seven Newtown police officers who were among the first responders to last month's massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary. The account they provide, as the Times rightly puts it, is "filled with ghastly moments and details, and a few faint instances of hope."
The report also highlights a secondary issue at play, one that is easy to lose sight of during the heated debate over gun control and safety that is now going on across the nation: Namely, the absolute hell that Newtown's police officers, many of them parents themselves, went through, and very well may continue to go through for the rest of their lives after seeing what they did on Dec. 14.
"One look, and your life was absolutely changed," Michael McGowan, one of the first officers to arrive at the school, told the paper. Another recounted how, two weeks later, he began to sob uncontrollably after driving by a roadside memorial. "I just lost it right there, I couldn't even drive," Jason Frank said. "Words can’t describe how horrible it was," said a third officer, Joe Joudy, one of the detectives who was tasked with the unenviable job of spending nearly a week collecting and inventorying every piece of evidence from the crime scene.
read more here
Slate.com
By Josh Voorhees
Jan. 29, 2013
The New York Times has a rather haunting piece in today's paper based on interviews with seven Newtown police officers who were among the first responders to last month's massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary. The account they provide, as the Times rightly puts it, is "filled with ghastly moments and details, and a few faint instances of hope."
The report also highlights a secondary issue at play, one that is easy to lose sight of during the heated debate over gun control and safety that is now going on across the nation: Namely, the absolute hell that Newtown's police officers, many of them parents themselves, went through, and very well may continue to go through for the rest of their lives after seeing what they did on Dec. 14.
"One look, and your life was absolutely changed," Michael McGowan, one of the first officers to arrive at the school, told the paper. Another recounted how, two weeks later, he began to sob uncontrollably after driving by a roadside memorial. "I just lost it right there, I couldn't even drive," Jason Frank said. "Words can’t describe how horrible it was," said a third officer, Joe Joudy, one of the detectives who was tasked with the unenviable job of spending nearly a week collecting and inventorying every piece of evidence from the crime scene.
read more here
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Father of slain 6 year old Sandy Hook student heckled by gun activists
Neil Heslin, Father Of Newtown Victim, Heckled By Pro-Gun Activists
(VIDEO, PHOTOS)
Huffington Post
Posted: 01/29/2013
Neil Heslin, the father of a 6-year-old boy who was slain in the Sandy Hook massacre in Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 14, stoically faced down pro-gun activists last night.
More than 1,000 people attended a hearing before the Gun Violence Prevention Working Group at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford on Monday to share their views on gun control, USA Today reported. Among them was Heslin, who held a large framed picture of himself and his son Jesse as he urged officials to consider strengthening gun laws in Connecticut.
But as he gave his emotional testimony, pleading with lawmakers to improve mental health options and to ban assault weapons like the one Adam Lanza used to murder his child and 25 other people, his speech was interrupted by dozens of audience members, The Connecticut Post reported.
“I still can't see why any civilian, anybody in this room in fact, needs weapons of that sort. You're not going to use them for hunting, even for home protection," Heslin said.
Pro-gun activists responded by calling out: "Second Amendment!"
read more here
(VIDEO, PHOTOS)
Huffington Post
Posted: 01/29/2013
Neil Heslin, the father of a 6-year-old boy who was slain in the Sandy Hook massacre in Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 14, stoically faced down pro-gun activists last night.
More than 1,000 people attended a hearing before the Gun Violence Prevention Working Group at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford on Monday to share their views on gun control, USA Today reported. Among them was Heslin, who held a large framed picture of himself and his son Jesse as he urged officials to consider strengthening gun laws in Connecticut.
But as he gave his emotional testimony, pleading with lawmakers to improve mental health options and to ban assault weapons like the one Adam Lanza used to murder his child and 25 other people, his speech was interrupted by dozens of audience members, The Connecticut Post reported.
“I still can't see why any civilian, anybody in this room in fact, needs weapons of that sort. You're not going to use them for hunting, even for home protection," Heslin said.
Pro-gun activists responded by calling out: "Second Amendment!"
read more here
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Inmate Found Dead In Apparent Suicide
Inmate Found Dead In Apparent Suicide
By HILDA MUÑOZ Courant Staff Writer
1:56 PM EDT, July 23, 2008
NEWTOWN - An inmate who hanged himself in an apparent suicide at Garner Correctional Institution early this morning has been identified as a man facing murder and assault charges in the fatal shooting of his pregnant girlfriend in April, sources said.The inmate hanged himself by tying a bed sheet around his neck and the other end to the cell door, Department of Correction spokesman Brian Garnett said. His cellmate notified prison staff around 4:30 a.m.Garnett said authorities are withholding the inmate's name until his next of kin are notified. However, sources familiar with the incident said the inmate is Alfredo "Junior" Ferrer, who was arrested in April after a standoff with police behind a local tavern in Coventry.
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By HILDA MUÑOZ Courant Staff Writer
1:56 PM EDT, July 23, 2008
NEWTOWN - An inmate who hanged himself in an apparent suicide at Garner Correctional Institution early this morning has been identified as a man facing murder and assault charges in the fatal shooting of his pregnant girlfriend in April, sources said.The inmate hanged himself by tying a bed sheet around his neck and the other end to the cell door, Department of Correction spokesman Brian Garnett said. His cellmate notified prison staff around 4:30 a.m.Garnett said authorities are withholding the inmate's name until his next of kin are notified. However, sources familiar with the incident said the inmate is Alfredo "Junior" Ferrer, who was arrested in April after a standoff with police behind a local tavern in Coventry.
click above for more
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