Did they die in the line of duty?
Families bitter over denial of hero death benefits after Sept. 11 attacks.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Saturday, October 07, 2006
NEW YORK — As the World Trade Center burned, Glenn Winuk rushed to the scene from his law office to offer his skills as a veteran paramedic. He died with surgical gloves on and a medic's bag at his side. A card in his wallet identified him as a volunteer firefighter.
"He died a hero," said his brother, Jay.
The Justice Department recently rejected Winuk's parents' application for a $250,000 benefit for public safety officers killed on the job. Although Winuk was an associate member of the Jericho Fire Department on Long Island, he hadn't been on active duty since 1998 and thus died a civilian.
The denial is one of several difficult rulings the Justice Department has made while administering the Public Safety Officers' Benefits Act, a 30-year-old federal program that provides a one-time payment to the families of dead police, firefighters and government rescue workers.
Since the program's inception, disputes have arisen over deaths that were due to medical conditions, self-inflicted gunshots or auto wrecks or that happened while an officer was off-duty and far from home. There has been debate, too, over who counts as a public safety officer.
"I recognize the decedent's heroism that day and readily acknowledge and salute his bravery: Glenn J. Winuk gave unstintingly of himself, under the most dreadful circumstances, and gave unto death itself," wrote Domingo Herraiz, director of the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Assistance. "The law does not entrust me, however, with authority to distribute federal benefits in recognition of the ultimate sacrifice paid by Good Samaritans, no matter how deserving."
In a case out of California, the family of a civilian pilot who killed battling a wildfire went to court after the department ruled that the program didn't cover private contractors. A federal judge sided with the family in July.
In March, a judge overturned a decision to deny benefits to a 14-year-old junior firefighter hit by a car while answering an alarm on his bicycle. Christopher Kangas of Brookhaven, Pa., was a volunteer whose duties were limited to drills and firehouse chores.
Jay Winuk said his family also plans a court challenge.
"It just adds salt to a wound that's about the biggest wound you could have," he said. "It's like they're trying to find every which way not to honor this guy."
A Justice Department spokeswoman said that, on average, about 10 percent of those who apply each year are ineligible.
An even thornier decision might lie ahead: whether payments should go to rescue workers who inhaled dust at the trade center site and were later diagnosed with fatal lung ailments.
An attorney for the family of New York Detective James Zadroga, who died in January, said he plans to seek a payment under the program. Doctors blamed Zadroga's fatal lung problems on his work at ground zero.
"This guy deserves it," said attorney Michael Barasch. "He is no different than a cop who got shot in the chest, lingers for a year and then dies."
The Public Safety Officers' Benefits Act prohibits claims for long-term, job-related illness, but guidelines published this year said payments can be made if a death is directly caused by exposure to chemicals while on duty.
The Justice Department said it has paid 435 claims related to the Sept. 11 attacks, mostly to full-time police and firefighters. Department officials said they have denied only three claims related to the attacks.
New York passed a law last year declaring Winuk died in the line of duty. But that didn't sway the Justice Department.
The rejection also came despite lobbying by Thomas Von Essen, who was the New York fire commissioner on Sept. 11.
"I can assure you that true firemen don't care about their 'membership status' when life is at stake, and every indication is that Glenn Winuk was a true fireman," Von Essen wrote to the Justice Department.
BS Ranch Perspective:
This is not my first time Writing on this issue. I have written about this same issue through a different paper and different Writer, the answer to the question if the court should have given the Volunteer Firefighter the full benefit of death while working as a Firefighter Paramedic, I say yes!! Fully, this guy had his Paramedic or medic bag right in his hand when he was found in the rubble of the building! That right there says that he was working hard to try to get in there to save people that might have been hurt. He must not have known like the other firefighters that the buildings were slowly being compromised to the point that they would collapse, Killing all the firefighters, and the Volunteer that grabbed his First Aid Paramedic Bag and ran into the Tower and tried to help the people that were injured and needed help to get outside, he then risked his life.
He should be fully compensated for his time, his life insurance should kick in, and the family and next of kin should be paid, the One or Five million dollars how ever much it is today!! I know that it is a good amount that they don't want to pay to the family of the person that lost his life fighting for those that needed medical aid.
Pay the Family, that is what I Think!!
BS Ranch
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