A county investigation of a federal probe?
That?s what Baltimore County officials plan after learning the U.S. Department of Justice is probing their treatment of police officers who?ve had seizures.
“We?re going to begin our own investigation into DOJ,” said Don Mohler, a county government spokesman. “We?re confident that DOJ will have no interest in this case, but we want to find out why [the department?s] name is being floated.”
Baltimore County Police Det. William Blake is suing the county over its request that he undergo a brain scan.
Blake?s attorney, Kathleen Cahill, said in federal court Friday that the U.S. Department of Justice?s Disability Rights Section had entered the case on behalf of Blake and three other police officers.
Cahill said Justice Department lawyers were looking into whether the county violated the Americans With Disabilities Act when it ordered officers who had seizures to undergo brain scans.
But Mohler said county officials have received no such word.
“We think something is terribly awry here,” Mohler said. “What liability would the county face if one of these officers with seizures is driving a car or using his service weapon and kills one or more people? Once the DOJ asks that question, they will see this is a no-brainer.”
Blake, who was ordered to undergo a electroencephalogram ? a brain scan some doctors say can cause seizures ? alleges the scan is retribution against him and two other officers for testifying on behalf of a fourth officer at an administrative hearing.
County officials, however, say the scan is necessary to assure public safety.
The conflict began after Philip Crumbacker, a 22-year veteran, was declared medically unfit for duty after crashing his car during a seizure in 2004. Blake and two other officers testified on Crumbacker?s behalf during an administrative hearing that each had single episodes similar to seizures but were fit for duty and experienced no subsequent medical problems.
Former Baltimore County Police Chief Terrence Sheridan, who now heads the state police, ordered each to submit to fit-for-duty exams the day after the hearing. Blake, a 30-year veteran, suffered a seizure in 1996 but was cleared for duty one month later.
U.S. District Court Chief Judge Benson Legg said at Friday?s hearing it was obvious Blake is “fit for duty.”
Of the four officers involved in the conflict, two have retired, and one agreed to undergo the brain scan, was cleared for duty and is back to work, Mohler said.
Mohler said Blake is the only officer refusing to take the EEG.
Attorney Allison Nichol, a chief in the U.S. Department of Justice?s Disability Rights Section, said she would not comment on the case.
Justice Department spokesman Andrew Ames also declined comment.
Examiner Staff Writer Jaime Malarkey contributed to this article.
