Dan Morse and Ann E. Marimow write:
After a long and distinguished career with the Montgomery County Police Department, John King made a request similar to that made by many Montgomery colleagues before him: He applied for a disability retirement pension, citing injuries first suffered years earlier.
But King’s case had its own twist. He was about to start a second career as a police chief in Gaithersburg, a city in the county. His disability package application was approved, and he is now in his second year as chief. His total compensation tops $200,000.
The case has caught the attention of federal authorities.
The above article appears as a companion to a longer, front-page article about the Montgomery County Police disability retirement system in general.
Dan Morse and Ann E. Marimow write, Montgomery Police Seeking Disability Find System Weighted in Their Favor:
If a Montgomery County police officer can show that his bad knee limits his ability to chase a suspect through the woods or that his injured trigger finger can no longer fire a gun, he gets the same tax-free benefits as an officer paralyzed from a gunshot, under the police department’s one-size-fits-all disability retirement system.