Rickey Davis’ career with Springfield Police Department may be over. Davis, known for his outspoken leadership of the Black Guardians Association, has applied for duty-related disability, citing depression. If his request is approved, he will receive 65 percent of his pay grade tax-free — a formula designed by the pension board to equal an active-duty officer’s take-home pay.
Davis’s current rank is lieutenant, and his annual salary is $82,158.18. He is a plaintiff in two race-discrimination lawsuits pending in federal court.
Davis has not reported for duty since March 7, when he learned that he was being transferred from the detective bureau to street patrol. City officials said the transfer was based on job performance. Since then, he has been on paid medical leave for hypertension and stress.
The decision to grant or deny Davis’ request will be made by the Springfield Police Pension Fund Board, a five-member panel that includes two police officers, a retired officer, and two mayoral appointees. When an officer requests disability, he or she must be examined by three medical doctors with the relevant specialty, chosen by the board, who are charged with determining whether the officer is disabled.
For “duty-related disability” — the type Davis has requested — the board must also examine the cause of the disability. SPD officer Kevin Barrington, president of the pension board, says an officer who seeks duty-related disability must show that the disability was caused by “an act of duty.”
“It’s not like worker’s comp,” Barrington says. An ‘act of duty’ is something not normally attributed to citizens. It would have to be something a police officer does.” For example, an officer who runs a red light and collides with another vehicle would not qualify, because the same thing could happen to a civilian. If an officer collides with another motorist while responding to a call, with lights and sirens running, any resulting injury could qualify as a duty-related disability.
Barrington won’t comment on Davis’ case and says that the board members will vote on facts they’re given. “It’s a hearing. You have to go by the facts,” he says. “It’s really not much of a judgment call.”
Davis declined to comment.
Contact Dusty Rhodes at drhodes@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Sep 7-13, 2006.
