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Story Published: Jan 15, 2010 at 7:14 PM PDT
Story Updated: Jan 18, 2010 at 2:27 PM PDT
Jason McKissack was severely beaten on the job, and he's losing his medical benefits. And he has learned the same could happen to any officer who suffers a catastrophic injury in the line of duty.
On June 17, 2008, McKissack found two teens fighting, and tried to break up the scuffle. But the teens turned on the officer and began assaulting him. The brutal beating left McKissack fighting for his life.
"The first punch really rocked my brain," he said.
The officer remembers getting five blows to his head. He fell to his knees and looked up just as he was being charged.
"He ran several feet and then did a soccer kick to my face," said McKissack.
He thought he was going to die. McKissack's backup saved his life, but the vicious attack permanently damaged his brain.
"Right now, the brain is having a hard time processing this," said his therapist.
His balance is no longer level, and his brain just doesn't compute like it used to. It's so bad doctors say he'll never be a cop again, and he'll never be able to hold down a job.
That was just the first blow. Months into therapy, he learned if he can't be a cop, he can't keep his medical benefits.
"I actually got hurt saving someone's life and this is how they thank me?" McKissack said.
"I never, in my wildest dreams, thought if he was injured in the line of duty that we wouldn't be taken care of," said wife Kim McKissack.
The only way his family - a wife and two kids - can keep their benefits is if McKissack dies in the line of duty.
"If I would have got killed they would have been a lot better off," Jason McKissack said.
"I could not believe it," Kim McKissack said.
Seattle police insist the cuts are not city policy.
"That's a result of state law," Asst. Police Chief Nick Metz said.
But even Metz said this type of catastrophic injury is so rare even he didn't know officers would be left to fend for themselves.
"It's completely unacceptable, completely unacceptable," said Metz.
Renee Maher's husband, Federal Way Police Officer Patrick Maher, was shot to death trying to break up a fight between two brothers in 2003.
"As the wife of an officer killed in the line of duty. It makes me sick to my stomach to realize a family is better off financially to have their officer die," Renee Maher said.
McKissack is now living on a paycheck provided by the state Department of Labor & Industries that is nearly 40 percent below his previous salary.
Out of that he must decide whether to pay for private medical insurance or pay the mortgage - he can't afford both. Private health insurance costs $1,300 a month for 18 months, then would increase to more than $2,000 per month.
The Seattle Police Officer's Guild says it will be able to cover McKissack's private health insurance for a couple of months - but no more. The guild is demanding lawmakers change the law.
"To have no medical insurance is just not right. It cannot be the way we take care of our officers," said SPOG President Rich O'Neill.
For years, Jason McKissack had the reputation of being the officer you want to back you up. Now the guild is backing him up by insisting lawmakers protect officers catastrophically injured in the line of duty.
Jason McKissack's story has prompted HB1679, which would protect police officers, fire fighters and corrections officers. If passed, the medical benefits would be paid out of the police pension fund, not the state budget.
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How to help
Donations may be sent to:
Seattle Police Guild
2949 4th Ave S
Seattle, WA 98134
Please make checks payable to SPOG with "Jaason McKissack Fund" in the memo line.