Firefighter injured on-duty denied workers comp over a technicality

A firefighter from Godnost fire department is off work for a torn muscle requiring surgery. Firefighter Sam Jones tore his quadriceps tendon while performing an exercise known as a “clean and jerk”. But administrators at City Hall have deemed his out side the bounds of acceptable on-duty behavior.

On the day in question a group of firefighters were pushing themselves to hit new personal records, or in fitness terms PR. Meaning that this group of firefighters were pushing themselves to lift weights heavier than they ever have before.

Chief David Boyce is furious with the decision out of city hall. The chief has been publicly lobbying to get the city to reconsider.

“City hall is trying to make it look like these guys were being irresponsible. That is as far from the truth as it gets. We have multiple certified personal trainers on shift. One guy has his degree in kinesiology; he is also a certified crossfit coach. There is another guy who has certifications in personal training from both Cooper Institute and Russian Kettlebells. I don’t have a bunch of meatheads tossing weights around at random. They train hard, but they train safe and sometimes injury just happens.”

But the city does not see it this way. They view people pushing for a PR when on duty shows these coaches are not responsible. City hall wants to add they ultimately did not make the decision; it was the insurance company denying this claim. No one at the city would go on the record with CallTheCops. A very generic press release was issued.

“Some facts in this case raised red flags. All information was documented and forwarded over the insurance company. The final decision to cover or deny a claim rests solely on the insurance company.”

Attempts to get a statement from the insurance company were unsuccessful. We were told that any discussion of this case would be a violation of HIPAA.

In the mean time firefighters are banding together to help Firefighter Jones out. The union has pledged their support also.

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