WHAT A HEEL!: Fat Cop, Bad Cop
Retired NYPD officer Paul Soto, who weighs more than 500 pounds, filed suit against New York City to get accidental disability retirement benefits after he fell and hurt his knee “in the line of duty” outside an NYPD doctor's office. A judge denied an upgrade from the standard disability benefit, ruling that his bum knee is caused by
"morbid obesity" and that he "was not any less able to perform his duties after the fall than he was before it." Reports the New York Post:
"There's no dispute that [Soto] is physically incapable of performing his duties as a police officer. He is morbidly obese, suffers from narcolepsy and is hypertensive," Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Judith Gische wrote in her decision made public yesterday.
He currently receives ordinary disability retirement benefits, which pay an officer a taxable pension of half his salary. An accidental disability retirement pays a nontaxable pension of three-fourths his salary. …
When Soto joined the force in 1993, Gische found, he weighed approximately 250 pounds. He is now 40, 5-foot-7 and over 500 pounds.
The Stiletto wants to know why the NYPD put Soto on desk duty “for his own safety” instead of firing him. The fact is, he was unable to perform the duties necessary for The Stiletto’s safety and that of her fellow New York taxpayers for whom he works.
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