By Ashley Silver
Police1
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Minnesota Court of Appeals has ruled on a lawsuit stemming from the death of Washington County Sheriff’s deputy Jerome Lannon in 2018. The court found that Lannon’s wife was wrongly denied death benefits after the he died by suicide due to a PTSD diagnosis.
KARE News reported the initial ruling of an administrative law judge stated Lannon was not killed in the line of duty, so his widow, Cynthia, would not be awarded his death benefits. The Minnesota Court of Appeals reversed that ruling this week after stating, “The phrase ‘killed in the line of duty,’ as interpreted by the Supreme Court, is broad enough to encompass the death of a public safety officer who dies by suicide as a result of PTSD caused by performing duties peculiar to a public safety officer.”
The appeals court also noted that throughout Lannon’s 20+ years in law enforcement, the deputy “responded to many disturbing incidents, including a double murder, multiple suicides, a child’s sexual assault and fatal vehicle crashes,” causing him to seek treatment for anxiety and depression that previous therapists tied to PTSD.
The court went on to state: “We conclude that ‘killed in the line of duty’ ... includes a death by suicide resulting from PTSD caused by performing duties peculiar to a public safety officer. Accordingly, survivors of such an officer may qualify for the death benefit.”