In the wake of the June 12 mass shooting at Pulse, Officer Gerry Realin, along with the seven other members of the Orlando Police Department’s hazmat team, was tasked with removing the bodies from the nightclub.
As a result, he’s been diagnosed with PTSD, which has left him unable to work or see past “all the red” of the horrific massacre.
Realin told the Orlando Sentinel that he returned to work two weeks after the shooting, but that he often called in sick. He then used all his sick time and vacation days before he was eventually put on paid leave. Now, he’s looking to have the initial time he took off reinstated.
A spokesperson for the police department said that Realin can apply for compensation through a disability committee. If it can be proved that the injury that inhibited the officer’s ability to work was suffered on the job, then his time should be reimbursed.
Realin and his attorney, Geoffrey Bichler, however, argue that this process, which follows the protocols set forth in the state’s workers’ compensation law, typically favors physical injuries over psychological ones.
“It is a travesty that there’s no legal protection for a guy like Gerry,” Bichler said. “The law needs to protect them. As a society, we owe it to them.”
According to Ron Clark, who runs the Connecticut-based group Badge of Life, only five states pay workers’ comp because of psychological issues suffered on the job.
“Usually if you break your leg in law enforcement and have psychological issues, you go out on workman’s comp,” remarked Clark. “Not with psych-only issues.”
“Cops are human,” he added. “Cops have feelings.”
Jessica Realin, Gerry’s wife, admitted that when her husband finally came home after responding to the scene at Pulse, he was unable to communicate aside from a “blank stare.”
“The man that left my house that morning did not come back to me that night,” she said. “He’s still not back.”
After 12 years on the force, this is the event that has affected him the most. He can’t sleep without medication and has recurrent flashbacks and nightmares. He’s receiving counseling, but the work is slow and arduous.
“We don’t think about tomorrow,” Jessica said. “We just think about today.”
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