Police officer's widow denied benefits - THIS IS JUST WRONG!

[ph4ever]

FEDERAL WAY, Wash. -- The widow of a Federal Way police officer says the state has turned its back on her and her children.

Vanessa Walsh says losing her husband was bad enough, but now she's worried she's about to lose her lifeline.

The widow was just denied widow survivor benefits.

Everyone agrees Brian Walsh died in the line of duty, but the manner of his death has left Vanessa Walsh financially on her own.

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[browneyedgrltx]

I hope she wins her appeal case. It is wrong. If he was at work and had a heart attack then he was doing his job when something unfortunate happened. If he had been shot sitting in the same police cruiser, there wouldn't be any discussion. But just because it was a heart attack shouldn't mean that his wife and children should have to suffer. Police officers are under terrible amounts of stress everyday that could have caused the attack.

[SAVANNAH BEE]

This is just plain wrong.....unfortunately I am not familiar with the occurences of this unfortunate event,
but police officers put their lives on the line everyday.....and then to be denied benefits....that just sucks...

can someone please explain what happened..

[SAVANNAH BEE]

oops....I saw the link and followed the story....it still sucks for the wife and family.....

[ph4ever]

One thing the story doesn't make clear is prior to Officer Walsh’s death, Washington State lost 6 police officers in the line of duty in a 2 month period starting on 10/31/09. The first officer killed was basically hunted down by a guy who had a grudge against the police. The shooter stalked the police, and shot at a police car sitting on the road where the officers were going over training. The training officer was killed and his rookie returned fire – she was grazed by a bullet. The shooter has been caught. 4 officers were in a coffee shop, just having coffee and going over their day’s plans when they were gunned down. The shooter was wounded by one of the officers and went on the run, he was eventually shot by another officer that he tried to ambush. The 6th officer killed was answering a domestic disturbance call. The responding officers talked to the guy causing the trouble at the home, made arrangements for them to take him to another location and he went upstairs to get his belongings and came down with a gun shooting. He killed one officer, wounded the other. The officer killed was able to return fire killing him. All of these officers deaths occured in the Seattle/Tacoma areas.

The day officer Walsh died one of his colleges had been in an officer involved shooting. The suspect was still at large and Walsh was sitting in his patrol car guarding a police perimeter when he had the heart attack. As I understand it, the state is denying her widow’s benefits because a heart attack could have happened anywhere. IMHO since October LE in Washington has been under a lot of freaking stress. I’m angry. Since I'm a Washington resident, I’ve sent a email to the governor.

[MammaBear]

This actually happened to a very dear friend of mine. Her hubby was a cop in a town outside of Philly. He had a very difficult day at work (night shift that week) while arresting two suspects. I think the suspects may have gotten his partners' gun and he wound up wresting with them with the gun pointed at him and his partner. After he came home, his daughter found him dead at the bottom of the steps from a heart attack.

I believe my friend was originally denied benefits but fought it and eventually rec'd benefits.

I wish this lady the best.....

[Skibo]

Now that this has made the press, I would expect an announcement soon that the benefits will be paid.

[CindaBee]

I know that here, our police union, Fraternal Order of Police would be fighting for her all the was to the Supreme Court. I hope her husband had that kind of protection for his and his widow's rights.