Police officer, whose line-of-duty disability pension benefits had been terminated by city, sought permanent injunction to prevent city from terminating employer-provided health insurance coverage for police officer and his wife. The Circuit Court denied police officer’s complaint. Police officer appealed.
The Appellate Court held that:
- Police officer, who struck top of his head on door frame of squad car, suffered catastrophic injury, and
- Officer’s work-related injury occurred as a result of his response to what he reasonably believed was an emergency.
City police officer’s work-related injury, which arose from striking top of his head on door frame of squad car while responding to dispatch over police radio, occurred as a result of his response to what he reasonably believed was an emergency, and thus officer was entitled under Public Safety Employee Benefits Act to continued health insurance coverage, even though circumstances surrounding injury fell within anticipated daily events, where officer had duty to respond to dispatch calls in timely manner, and he could not have known whether call was an emergency until he responded.