Danny Golden : "Chicago officer awarded injury benefits"

1. Chicago police officer injury benefits
2. Chicago police officer shot in bar injury benefits.

Accident – Death – Obituary News :

By Sam Charles
Chicago Tribune

The Chicago Police Department and its pension board have now each determined that former Officer Danny Golden was performing official police duties just before he was shot and paralyzed outside a bar in the Beverly neighborhood nearly two years ago.

This decision, which came months after Golden applied for on-duty disability benefits in December, sheds light on the subjective nature of the process with no definitive timeline for reaching a decision or guarantee of approval for officers or their families.

Meetings of the pension board to assess duty disability applications are open to the public. CPD, on the other hand, will make its own assessment on whether an officer was injured “in the line of duty,” although the process lacks transparency. Superintendent Larry Snelling stated that any officer, regardless of being on duty or not, can be injured in the line of duty if they are responding to “criminal activity.”

While the exact date of the Police Department’s ruling on Golden’s duty-related injuries is unknown, his pension board application was approved during the board’s March meeting. He submitted his application for on-duty disability benefits approximately two months after his allotted medical leave period expired, according to records.

An officer does not have to be on duty or in uniform for their injuries or death to be considered in the line of duty. After the recent deaths of off-duty Officers Luis Huesca and Aréanah Preston, CPD declared both as having died in the line of duty.

Details of each case differ. Golden was present at the bar where the altercation occurred, whereas Huesca and Preston were killed in attempted robberies as they returned home after their shifts.

Snelling, while announcing charges in Huesca’s killing, emphasised that the “line of duty” designation is determined by how officers respond in off-duty situations.

Huesca was fatally shot near his home in the Gage Park neighbourhood on April 21. He was still in uniform as he arrived home from work, and his gun and car were stolen.

The Police Department announced two days later that Huesca had died in the line of duty, making his family eligible for survivors’ death benefits.

Process Under Scrutiny

The pension board’s decisions on duty disability benefits faced criticism last year from Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza after her brother, a CPD sergeant who contracted COVID-19 while working 17 consecutive days, had his application denied.

Last year, Governor J.B. Pritzker signed a bill expanding on-duty disability benefits for first responders who contracted COVID-19.

Injured officers are granted 365 days of paid medical leave to recover from their injuries. If additional time is required, the officer will be placed on unpaid leave.

The officer can then apply for duty disability benefits with the Policemen’s Annuity & Benefit Fund of Chicago—the pension board.

The designation by the pension fund entitles Golden to 75% of his CPD salary tax-free until he reaches retirement age, along with city-funded insurance coverage for life. Upon retirement, Golden can apply for his pension.

City Department of Human Resources records indicate that Golden received a monthly salary of £8,164 before being placed on unpaid leave in October 2023.

The Golden Case

On Friday, July 8, 2022, hundreds of residents from the Beverly, Morgan Park, and Mount Greenwood neighbourhoods gathered at Kennedy Park for an annual 16-inch softball tournament. Following the tournament, Golden and other attendees went to Sean’s Rhino Bar and Grill.

The three men charged in the shooting entered the bar after 2 a.m., violating the bar’s liquor license. A scuffle erupted involving the three men and other patrons, not involving the Goldens, and spilled onto the sidewalk.

Although Golden was identified as a CPD officer in the suspects’ arrest reports, none of them were charged with aggravated battery to a peace officer by Cook County prosecutors.

Golden recounted his version of the events in his December application, stating that he was not involved in the altercation inside the bar.

He mentioned that he identified himself as a police officer and attempted to detain an offender, resulting in him being shot in the spine, leaving him paralysed from the waist down.

Following the incident, the city’s Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection ordered the bar to close for violating its liquor license. The property was later put up for sale.

The Golden brothers filed a lawsuit against the bar and the three men charged in the shooting, alleging negligence on the bar’s part for not having adequate security measures in place that night.

The lawsuit is ongoing, with the bar claiming that the Goldens were responsible for their injuries due to their actions during the altercation.

Court records show that the Cook County state’s attorney’s office filed a motion in March to quash a subpoena for the criminal case files of the three men charged in the shooting.

1. Chicago police officer on-duty injury benefits
2. Former Chicago police officer shot in bar.