A Montgomery County police officer who was injured while he was off-duty and had been drinking settled a workers’ compensation claim for a work-related injury.
Officer Gabriel Stone agreed to accept a $250 payout stemming from injuries he received while trying to hold on to a vehicle that had just been rear-ended by his girlfriend on Ridge Road in Germantown, according to county records.
According to records obtained by The Examiner, the settlement comes six months after the county agreed to pay $70,000 to a man who accused Stone of assault and false arrest, county records show, though both the county and Stone deny any wrongdoing.
In court records, Stone indicated that he was injured after his girlfriend’s accident because he is a police officer. He said he approached the vehicle after the accident because he thought its driver had instigated the collision and he fractured his elbow when he tried to hold on to the vehicle as it sped off.
Police issued Stone’s girlfriend a ticket for the accident, court records show.
On his disability claim forms, Stone said, “After the accident I approached the other vehicle, [and] identified myself as a police officer.”
But during a hearing before the state Workers’ Compensation Commission, Stone said he was identified as a police officer because he was wearing a shirt from his police-affiliated bagpipe band that had the word “police” written on it and had a police emblem.
“You did not identify yourself as a police officer, correct?” Associate County Attorney Wendy Karpel asked Stone, according to a transcript.
“The fact that I had the shirt on … ,” Stone responded.
“That’s not my question. Did you identify yourself as a police officer,” Karpel asked.
“Not verbally,” Stone said.
Stone said during the hearing that he drank two Guinness beers at a friend’s house hours before the accident.
After the driver left the scene of the accident, he drove to a Germantown police station, where the driver said he was assaulted by Stone, according to court records.
Stone’s attorney declined to comment.
In 2008 court records, Stone said he had been investigated by his superiors four times for potential misconduct, but had been cleared of wrongdoing in each investigation.
