CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Six months after Hamilton County Deputy Landon Faulkner died following a crash, his family in Chattanooga, Tenn., is still fighting for death benefits, and the police union backing them plans to appeal a denial from the company that handles the county’s on-the-job injury claims.
The 24-year-old deputy died in April, a few days after the crash in which his patrol car struck a disabled vehicle that was sitting in a travel lane near Dunlap. Faulkner was married and the father of four. The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office has treated his death as a line-of-duty loss.
The claims administrator sees it differently. Acrisure Claims Service, the firm that handles Hamilton County’s workplace injury claims, mailed the family a letter turning the claim down. According to that letter, Faulkner was not doing work for county government when the crash happened because he was on his way to a second job for a different employer, so the county policy did not cover him.
Vince Champion of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers disputes that reading. He said Faulkner was in uniform and driving his patrol car to an extra-duty assignment working security at a hospital, and he argued that everything the deputy was doing fell within being on duty.
The sheriff’s office sent questions about the policy to Hamilton County Attorney Janie Varnell. The county mayor’s office said no decision has been made and that county and sheriff’s staff are going over the rules together, hoping for a positive outcome for the family.
One piece of the record is still missing. The Tennessee Highway Patrol, which investigated the wreck, has not yet released its crash report.
Section: More Chattanooga TN crime news
Filed under: Chattanooga TN Public Safety News
