The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania on Monday reversed a Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board ruling, ordering benefits reinstated to a suburban Philadelphia police sergeant who developed post-traumatic stress disorder following a violent 2020 on-duty confrontation that ended in a suspect’s death.
As documented in No. 1093 C.D. 2024, the panel held that a workers compensation judge improperly rejected uncontroverted medical evidence and misapplied the legal standards governing mental injury claims.
The court described the incident — a prolonged hand-to-hand fight in a wooded embankment, a near-loss of the officer’s duty weapon, a life-or-death struggle ending in a point-blank shooting, and unsuccessful resuscitation attempts — as an “extraordinary convergence of events” that constituted an abnormal working condition as a matter of law.
The 14-year Upper Darby police veteran and canine officer sought to amend his injury description and obtain wage-loss benefits stemming from PTSD, depression, and ongoing psychological deterioration after returning to duty.
The township contested the claim, and the judge credited the testimony of the department’s superintendent — who characterized firearm discharges as “normal” — while rejecting the opinions of the officer’s psychologist despite no competing testimony from the employer on the man’s mental health.
The Commonwealth Court found the judge’s credibility determinations “nonsensical.”
Applying a framework for mental/mental injuries, the court held that the officer established a compensable psychological injury caused by an abnormal work event and that no substantial evidence supported the judge’s contrary findings. The ruling remanded the case for calculation of wage-loss benefits.
As detailed in a concurring opinion, one judge urged the abandonment of the judge-made “abnormal working conditions” test — particularly as new legislation effective October 2025 eliminates that requirement for first responders — while a dissent argued the incident fell within the inherent risks of police work.