January 17, 2008
500 Hundred Pound Cop Denied Benefit Boost
When retired cop Paul Soto joined the force in 1993, he weighed a svelte 250 pounds. He now weighs over 500 pounds and is living off disability payments since maladies like narcolepsy, hypertension and, yes, morbid obesity, made his desk job unbearable. In 2006, he left the force, living off benefits which equal half his old paycheck, tax-free.
But had his disability resulted from activity in the line of duty, Soto would be pulling in three-fourths his salary. And that’s why he’s in the news today.
A state Supreme Court judge rejected Soto’s appeal for the increase in pension, which he claimed he’s due because he hurt his knee in 2005 when, while on duty, he tripped on a wooden pallet outside a doctor’s office. In her ruling, Judge Judith Gische agreed Soto was “morbidly obese” and disabled, but denied him the benefit hike because the cop was already assigned to desk duty when he tripped on the pallet. The judge concluded the incident left him no less capable of sitting at his desk and shuffling papers around; the pension board decision Soto was appealing blamed his knee injury on his “excessive weight.”
So Soto will have to settle for a trough half-full and a few days of embarrassing publicity, which the Post article was more than happy to provide:
A former colleague at the 6th Precinct said Soto's gun belt was an incredible 6 feet long, and his bosses would order him to take walks around the stationhouse for his own good. They would also have other officers shadow him to make sure he didn't pick up food along the way, he said.A commenter on police chat board NYPD Rant went further:
Every day this fat turd gets paid is a slap in the face to the hard working cops whose backs he's been riding for his whole disgraceful "career" ( for lack of a better word)... When ESU, FDNY, EMS, and large game managers from the Bronx Zoo have to cut a giant hole in the side of his wood-framed cave, wearing full hazmat suits, to extricate his fetid mazz from the dizgustin lair within, he will prolly sue for "embarrassment and mental anguish"...That his overtaxed, lard encased heart is still beating at all, is God laughing at us, lord help us all.
|
I can't believe people are paid disability pensions because they can't stop cramming food into their gaping maw. Doesn't he have any shame or dignity?
I don't think it's appropriate to post a photo of a (recognizable) NYPD officer who is NOT the one you refer to in the story.
I assumed that was Soto until the very end when I read the caption.
Ah you changed the photo, thanks Gothamist!
hey, the pic changed.
500-hundred is 50,000. I don't think that's what you mean.
eeeeewwwwwwwww
What a creep. Lay of the Ho Ho's fatty! It's not like you just wake up 500 pounds one day, you see that one coming a mile away. You know, when you hit 300 pounds you might say, 'Well, I'll only have half a dozen Ding Dongs for breakfast as opposed to my normal dozen'. I really have no sympathy for 'The Morbidly Obese', sorry. I don't believe that is a medical condition. Actually, it's a mental condition comprised of sloth, laziness and self-respect. Sorry, I hate to be mean, but it's true, and there are folks with real disabilities that don't get the care and money they recieve. Plus, on a desert island or plane crash, you'd be first to get eaten.
Did you hear about the new book that frames being obese as a lifestyle choice. That a large number of obese people is the natural evolution of a society with plenty. Probably funded by McDonalds.
Every time I see some obese person's thigh taking up half a seat on the bus while their ass takes up a whole seat it makes me so angry. Or some obese person in a scooter being treated like a person with a spinal injury I want to puke. It is a pity they don't have the same reaction. Looking in the mirror could be a weight loss gimic.
BTW, that NYPD Rant quote is pretty funny. "Fetid mazz"? Wuh?
I love Clancy.
So this proves cops don't have to take physical endurance exams! Wouldn't someone have thought something when the guy reached 350 lbs? I mean really. Cops should have to take a physical endurance exam yearly.
They allow these fat asses on the NYPD but disallow former soldiers from joining, who have already proven their cause to serve our country.
Mothra's comment made me laugh out loud until I realized that the picture had apparently been different before. Here I thought he/she just had a really awesome, crazy dry sense of humor.
Anyway, yeah, I don't have a lick of pity for this guy. And guess who's paying for him to eat himself to death? THAT'S RIGHT! US!
Being a cop in NY is stressful. One way of eliminating that stress is through eating. Hence his weight gain. He worked in the Village at the sixth precinct and there are a lot of nice red sauce places there so blame the precinct commander.
Can you imagine if the guy worked in the FDNY? Ladders do have a limit to their load bearing capacity.
Yes an annual check to see if the local NYPD could run a thirty yard dash under five minutes would have helped but you have the blue wall blocking it.
How about a mental and previous conviction check on half of the finest? That will knock their numbers down.
...when, while on duty, he tripped on a wooden pallet outside a doctor’s office.
What a hero.
And I agree Mihow, I thought Mothra was clever as hell until I realized the pic was changed.
Note to all: I am totally clever in real life!
(and thanks for the undeserved props).
So cops are forbidden from having beards but allowed to puff up like a blowfish. Sounds like the department sure knows what's important to carry out the job.
"his bosses would order him to take walks around the stationhouse for his own good. They would also have other officers shadow him to make sure he didn't pick up food along the way."
Amazing, taxpayers dollars go to cops having to shadow a fat cop who had to be ordered to take a walk... so that's where the police are when you need them, keeping fatty out of the doughnut box, everyone remember that next time you're frantically calling 911 wondering where the help you need is.