People such as Michael Morse, Dive Medic, and I have complained about opportunistic politicians and pundits who have attacked the pension benefits of public employees as a way to balance state and municipal budgets. They do this while ignoring the billions and billions of dollars wasted on entitlement programs for people who have never worked, don’t plan to ever work, and don’t pay a penny in taxes. You’ve probably heard all of that before, but it’s true. Public safety employees, including EMS workers, work long hours over their careers, giving up holidays, weekends, and often their health while serving the public. Despite the lurid stories in the media the vast majority of public employees earn their salaries every single day.

Then you have guys like this,

Judge denies disability claim for firefighter injured in fight over Elvis’ birthday

NEW YORK _ New York’s highest court denied a disability claim resulting from a beer-fueled fight over Elvis Presley’s birthday that ended with one New York City firefighter breaking a chair over the back of another, who then filed for disability retirement.

The New York Court of Appeals, in a 7-0 decision Tuesday, said that Robert Walsh wasn’t eligible for an “accident disability retirement” because of the fight, but instead must settle for a lower-paying ordinary disability retirement. In doing so, the court upheld two lower court rulings.

A fire fighter was attacked by another fire fighter and suffered severe  injuries. How did this happen?

The fight occurred in December 2003 when, according to court documents, firefighters at Ladder Company 76 on Staten Island were sitting around the firehouse kitchen, drinking beer out of plastic cups and arguing about the date of Presley’s birthday.

The dispute escalated and, eventually, Walsh accused a colleague of taking overtime from other firefighters. Another firefighter, Michael Silvestri, threatened to hit Walsh with a chair. Walsh remained seated with his back to Silvestri, who picked up the chair and hit Walsh, knocking him to the floor. Silvestri punched Walsh in the face until others stopped it, according to court documents.

Sitting around the fire house, drinking beer on New Year’s Eve. On duty in the fire house, drinking beer. If I was caught drinking beer on duty in the ambulance station, I’d be suspended, probably fired. If a police officer is caught drinking beer, he’s probably going to be fired. A fire fighter in New York City? Guess not.

Still Walsh gets a regular disability, which is 50% of his salary, subject to federal income tax. I understand that these were career ending injuries, but they were not job related and they were suffered at the hands of a fellow employee. Why should the tax payers of New York be on the hook for this pension?

Speaking of the attacker, what happened to him? He plead guilty to Second Degree Assault and was sentenced to a year in jail. He was also fired by the city and lost his pension.

The captain in the fire house who witnessed the assault, drove Walsh to the hospital in a private vehicle, then lied about what happened to hospital staff was fined, demoted, and retired with a $71,000 a year pension.

Walsh by the way was placed into a medication induced coma, intubated for a couple of weeks, and ultimately had to undergo facial reconstruction. So, while I’m not sure he deserves a city disability pension, he certainly is entitled to sue the people who did this to him. He DID sue the City of New York and received a $3.75 Million dollar settlement. He originally demanded $100 Million, but settled for far less.

You can a fairly brief internet search and get more and more details of this sad affair, including a claim by Walsh of gay bashing.

Details aside, this whole incident doesn’t do anything to help the image of public employees, especially fire fighters. Drinking on duty, fighting on duty, lying about what happened, none of it is the least bit helpful.