Decision Stings After 18 Years
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Officer Craig C. Marshall cycled on and off full duty throughout his career, including a six-year stint when he was assigned to administrative jobs after breaking his left ankle tangling with a suspect.
Still, the decision to retire him on disability last year "really blew me out of the water," he said. "I've been here 18 years and been on the streets for a lot of that and bent over backwards. And you use me, and you throw me away?"
But for the D.C. police department, the forced retirement was the logical conclusion to Marshall's injury-plagued career, which is recounted in 1,000 pages of medical records.
Marshall, who joined the force in 1987, sprained his back when his police car was hit. He injured his knee when he tripped on a cord at work and later had surgery for it. In 1999, he fractured the ankle, forcing another operation. In July 2003, he fell backward off a chair while working, causing head and shoulder pain, according to a summary of his case.
When his retirement case was heard in February 2005, he had been working for four hours a day for a year on administrative tasks for the department -- and, on some days, four hours for himself and his wife in a home-based cosmetics and vitamin business, he told the board.
He was able to do sedentary work at home, he told the board, because he could lie down if he was in pain. Attempts to have him work more for the department had failed, a police clinic doctor testified, when Marshall complained of "intolerable" pain. The department suspended him for two weeks over the unauthorized outside work, Marshall said recently.
In October 2005, the board ruled that his injuries were job-related, allowing him to avoid taxes on his disability payments, which he said amount to about $30,000 annually. Marshall, 46, said he may seek other work.
He faults the department for retiring officers who are providing services, even if they cannot patrol. "All they're doing is moving off veterans and losing experience so they can hire new, cheaper officers."
-- Mary Pat Flaherty
