Blazejowski retirement renews dispute over handling of troubled police officer

For city Councilor Kevin Fuller, his vote last week to offer a disability retirement to troubled police Officer Marc Blazejowski was one of the most disturbing choices he’s had to make.

Fuller said the disability section’s wording fit Blazejowski’s situation and both the city and an independent physician argued that he should be granted disability, which pays officers 70 percent of their regular as well as benefits.

Fuller said he had little choice given that firing the 34-year-old officer would have meant the city would “end up in the same place” after spending time and money in a court case it could not win.

The problem, Fuller said, is that Blazejowski should have been axed years ago. The ball was dropped back then, he said, not now.

There’s something to that argument.

According to a 2011 report byconsultant Lori Coppinger, Blazejowski should have been fired after a series of incidents culminating in a 2006 meltdown when the officer expressed the idea that he would “like to kill someone” to see how it feels. Link to the full story.
Tuesday's paper will have an updated version of this story.

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