The Police Pension Board refused Monday to revoke the taxpayer-funded pension of an ex-cop who got caught working construction, then tested positive for cocaine once he was ordered back to work. Hit the jump to read the rest of the story.
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The deadlocked 12-member board – split between police union representatives and city officials – means ex-cop James Seiferheld can keep his monthly $4,363.87 pension, after the state’s highest court kicked the matter back to the board in April.
“The result is absurd,” said David Frankel, city finance commissioner and member of the Police Pension Board. “Taxpayers cannot afford to pay for a disability for a perfectly healthy former officer who failed a drug test.”
Seiferheld put in for retirement in December 2003, citing an on-the-job shoulder injury. But city investigators filmed him doing construction work within a month of his being granted the pension in 2004.
The 11-year NYPD veteran had his pension suspended in 2007, but the case was complicated when he tested positive for cocaine.
A lawyer for Seiferheld said the city’s bid to cut off the pension was “unlawful” and that he should now be offered another city job.
“His conduct was that of a private citizen,” said lawyer Robert Ungaro. “He didn’t have a shield, and there was no betrayal of public trust.”
