Cop Who Killed Innocent Man Gets Disability Pay
A police officer who fatally shot a man in a downtown Milwaukee park will receive duty disability pay.
Christopher Manney filed a claim saying the shooting and aftermath caused him to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. The disability retirement pay usually amounts to about 75 percent of an officer’s salary – and it’s tax free. The Journal Sentinel reports Manney’s gross salary was about $71,000.
He shot 31-year-old Hamilton in April after responding to a call of a man sleeping in a downtown park. His family said Hamilton suffered from schizophrenia and had recently stopped taking his medication. Manney said Hamilton resisted when he tried to frisk him. The two exchanged punches before Hamilton got hold of Manney’s baton and hit him on the neck, the former officer has said.
Police Chief Edward Flynn fired Manney in October, saying the officer correctly identified Hamilton as mentally ill but ignored department policy and treated him as a criminal by frisking him. Manney appealed. Tensions had mounted ahead of Chisholm’s decision, fueled by anger over the police killings of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner in New York.
Milwaukee Country District Attorney John Chisholm said at a news conference that his job wasn’t to evaluate whether Manney adhered to policy but whether he applied the correct amount of force in that situation. He said witnesses reported Manney gave Hamilton verbal commands to stop.
The city’s Annuity and Pension Board approved the claim based on a review by a panel of doctors.
Prosecutors ruled the shooting justified, but Manney was fired for failing to follow department protocol in his approach to Dontre Hamilton at Red Arrow Park in April 2014. Manney said Hamilton grabbed his baton and attacked him with it, and the officer shot him.
