Maryland?s top cop ? then chief of the Baltimore County police force ? ignored the advice of two senior staff members and ordered a police officer to undergo an invasive and potentially illegal brain scan, according to new court filings.
Maryland State Police Chief Terrence Sheridan was repeatedly advised that a forced electroencephalogram, or EEG, could violate discrimination laws but required county Police Offer William Blake to have one anyway, Blake?s attorney said. Blake is fighting the medical test, which some experts said could provoke a seizure, in federal court.
The county?s police personnel director and a colonel warned Sheridan the treatment of Blake and three other county officers with a history of seizures violated the Americans With Disabilities Act, attorney Kathleen Cahill wrote.
“Chief Sheridan rebuked them and warned that if they persisted in documenting their concerns about the legality of the police department?s treatment of the officers with a history of potential seizures, the would do so ?at their own peril,? “Cahill wrote.
Sheridan left the county?s police department to take over as state police superintendent in June.
The four county officers are all involved in legal action that could determine if police administrators have the right to force medical testing on well-performing employees with epileptic histories. One, 22-year veteran, Philip Crumbacker, 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 last December. Each had single-episode seizures as early as 10 years prior and, though none had experienced medical problems since, Sheridan ordered each to submit to fit-for-duty exams the day after the hearing.
Blake, a 30-yearveteran, suffered a seizure in 1996 but was cleared for duty one month later. He was again cleared for duty in his subsequent exam last year, but the county?s contracted doctor recommended an EEG.
Two neurologists estimated Blake has less than a 1 percent chance of suffering another seizure and said an EEG would be fruitless, if not harmful, according to court filings.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has determined the county violated the ADA. County officials said they plan to fight the rulings in court.
County spokesman Don Mohler did not return a request for comment on Blake?s case, but typically declines comment on pending litigation. He has said the exams were in the interest of public safety, noting the severity of Crumbacker?s accident on the Baltimore Beltway.
Blake is requesting an expedited ruling on the brain scan. County attorneys have until Jan. 7 to respond.
