Thomas Bean
NEWTOWN – An arbitration board has ordered Newtown to pay long-term disability benefits to an officer who suffered post-traumatic stress disorder after the Sandy Hook massacre and is unable to return to police work.
The state Board of Mediation and Arbitration ruled Wednesday that Newtown must pay Officer Thomas Bean 50 percent of his salary until his retirement, which would total $380,000 over 11 years.
The town had notified Bean that it would stop making long-term disability payments to him after June, a because Newtown’s disability carrier limits emotional disability benefits to two years.
The town has the right to appeal.
Bean, 40, was one of the first responders to the Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, 2012, when a gunman shot 20 first-graders and six educators.
He suffered emotional problems and was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder.