Crime & Safety

Report: Traumatized Newtown Officers Low on Sick Days

Newtown police deeply affected by the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary are quickly running out of paid time off.

 

According to an AP report, a small number of Newtown police officers have yet to return to work since the tragic Dec. 14 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School, traumatized by the senseless carnage they witnessed that day.

Unfortunately, this trauma is not covered by workers’ compensation and some officers have used up their personal days and “could soon be at risk of going without a paycheck,” AP's Michael Melia reports.

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There are less than 15 officers “critically affected” by the shootings, according to police union attorney Eric Brown, and only a few have taken extended time off.

Area police officers have stepped up to help, volunteering to cover shifts and give Newtown officers some rest, though that was only through Christmas Day and doesn’t cover missed pay.

Find out what's happening in Oxfordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Newtown’s Volunteer Ambulance Corps (NVAC) members spoke with Patch a week after the incident about responding to such a horrific scene and the toll it has taken on the volunteers.

"Everyone goes on autopilot," NVAC Secretary-Treasurer Jordan Reed explained. "You're here to do a job and you have to focus on that. And that's exactly what people did, whether they were [at the station] and overwhelmed, or on scene and dealing with seeing some awful stuff and trying to help families. When you get back here and started to realize the scope of it, it started to hit."


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