Shot officer’s compensation claim still under fire

Oct. 06--NORWALK -- When Norwalk Police Officer Phil Roselle learned his compensation benefits were partially restored last week, he thought things were beginning to turn in his favor.

Those hopes were quickly dashed Monday when he heard the city's insurer was still contesting his claims for post-traumatic stress disorder and kidney failure after he was shot during a training session at the Norwalk Police Department's gun range in September 2017.

"It's just another setback," said Roselle, after his latest hearing before the Worker's Compensation Commission in Stamford on Monday. "I didn't ask to get shot, and it just feels like it's been nothing but setbacks since. It's like I take two steps forward, only to be pushed six steps back."

The Connecticut Interlocal Risk Management Agency, the municipal insurance provider for the city, is claiming the ailments "did not arise out of or within the course of employment," according to a motion filed by CIRMA to contest the compensability of Roselle's claims.

Calls to Fred Greene, the claims representative handling the case for CIRMA, were not returned.

Roselle, who has had Type-1 diabetes for more than 30 years, claims the conditions are a direct result of the shooting and have nothing to do with the pre-existing disorder.

Roselle's lawyer, Matthew Paradisi of the Hartford-based firm Cicchiello & Cicchiello, said the next step is a complete review Roselle's psychiatric history since the accident. The review, he hopes, will lead the insurer to "amend" their position.

"It is our contention that these benefits represent weekly temporary total disability payments, which translates into non-legalese, as 'because of the injuries he has sustained that he is incapable of working,'" Paradisi said.

The latest hearing for Roselle served as a stark reminder for his wife, Debbie Roselle, that the fight with the city's insurer is far from over, despite last week's good news.

"I am having a hard time understanding how my husband, who dedicated himself to the city of Norwalk and protected and served his community for 30 years, can have the city turn their backs on him as if he were disposable," she said.

Under the partial worker's compensation, which was reinstated Sept. 27, Roselle is receiving a percentage of what his weekly earnings would have been had he been working, totaling around $1,400 a week.

The money, however, has done little to help Roselle with the "emotional rollercoaster" he's been on since the shooting, according to his wife.

"I don't see how someone can get shot and not have PTSD, or get shot and six months later need a new kidney. It's just so frustrating," Debbie Roselle said. "For someone who has not been shot to make the assumption that he would not have PTSD is shocking, and as far as his kidney failure goes, he was fine before he got shot and did not need a transplant. I'm not sure where the confusion is."

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