Appeals court grants psych injury for police officer

A Philadelphia police officer physically injured while responding to a burglary can submit a second workers compensation claim for a mental injury that manifested later into treatment for his initial claim, a Pennsylvania appellate court ruled Monday.

As explained in No. 362 C.D. 2024, in 2017 the officer responded to a burglary in progress at a pet store. The suspect resisted arrest and struck the officer on the head “repeatedly during a protracted struggle.”

The officer suffered injuries to his hand and wrist, lower back and chest wall and thoracic spine. In 2021 he added concussion to his list of injuries. The city of Philadelphia accepted the 2021 amendments to the officer’s initial claim but argued that a subsequent mental injury claim filed later in 2021 was barred because the matter had already been settled.

A workers compensation judge ruled that the psychiatric component could be included. But the workers comp board reversed, saying the claimant “had already amended his injury description in an earlier review petition.”

On appeals, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania ruled that the psychiatric component could be filed as a separate claim attached to an injury suffered at work. The court wrote that the board misapplied case law and that the officer’s later manifestation of mental injuries could not have been foreseen when he was resolving the physical injury aspects of his claim.