Law enforcement officers pushing for change in light of McKissack's case
SEATTLE -- Local law enforcement officers are pushing a bill that would help a Seattle police officer who sustained permanent brain damage when he was brutally beaten on the job.
Jason McKissack was trying to break up a fight between two teenagers in June 2008 when they turned on him.
McKissack endured several hits to the head. 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, and neither can his wife and two kids. And he has learned the same could happen to any officer who suffers a catastrophic injury in the line of duty.
"If I would have got killed they would have been a lot better off," McKissack said, citing a rule that would have allowed his wife and two kids to keep their benefits if McKissack would have died in the line of duty.
McKissack says no one's protecting him or his family, and law enforcement officers are trying to change that.
Seattle police say state law does not allow the city to cover medical benefits of officers released due to disability.
"It's completely unacceptable, completely unacceptable," said Rich O'Neill, president of the Seattle Police Officer's Guild. "An officer's family is better off financially if the officer is killed in the line of duty - and that is wrong."
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 mostly out of the police pension fund, not the state budget.
"All we're asking for medical insurance," said O'Neill.
Since the 1970s, six first responders in the state have been deemed catastrophically injured in the line of duty. A similar bill to provide all of them benefits was introduced last year, but failed to pass.
Jason McKissack was trying to break up a fight between two teenagers in June 2008 when they turned on him.
McKissack endured several hits to the head. 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, and neither can his wife and two kids. And he has learned the same could happen to any officer who suffers a catastrophic injury in the line of duty.
"If I would have got killed they would have been a lot better off," McKissack said, citing a rule that would have allowed his wife and two kids to keep their benefits if McKissack would have died in the line of duty.
McKissack says no one's protecting him or his family, and law enforcement officers are trying to change that.
Seattle police say state law does not allow the city to cover medical benefits of officers released due to disability.
"It's completely unacceptable, completely unacceptable," said Rich O'Neill, president of the Seattle Police Officer's Guild. "An officer's family is better off financially if the officer is killed in the line of duty - and that is wrong."
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 mostly out of the police pension fund, not the state budget.
"All we're asking for medical insurance," said O'Neill.
Since the 1970s, six first responders in the state have been deemed catastrophically injured in the line of duty. A similar bill to provide all of them benefits was introduced last year, but failed to pass.