Cop is granted pension after suffering COVID

A veteran Bronx detective disabled by COVID and unable to work again has been granted a disability pension, potentially setting the stage for other cops to get the same benefits.

Detective Mike Smith got the disability pension in a unanimous vote by the 12-member board of the NYPD Pension Fund. The pension is akin to what Smith would have received had he been shot and paralyzed, or suffered some other disability.

The board’s vote isn’t binding on future cases.

City officials among the board’s members read into the record statements that recognized the sacrifice made by first responders and other essential workers but noting each case will be evaluated separately, in part because it’s not easy to determine the source of a COVID infection.

The board’s membership includes the mayor, the comptroller, the police commissioner, and other officials, as well as representatives of police unions.

Paul DiGiacomo, president of the Detectives’ Endowment Association and a board member, called the vote “a well-earned recognition by the NYPD and the city that our members risked their lives throughout the pandemic to continue serving New Yorkers.

“We had eight detectives tragically die due to the virus and hundreds more fall ill,” he said. “Those who have been permanently affected are owed these benefits.”

The vote came at a board meeting on June 15.

Smith, 58, used to boast he never took a sick day in more than 30 years on the job. But COVID — which he believes he contracted on a visit to Rikers Island, or while interviewing a stabbing victim at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx — nearly killed him.

He was on a ventilator and given last rites before pulling through. Now he suffers from Stage 4 kidney disease — which means his kidneys are barely working. He also suffers nerve damage in his feet and hardened arteries in his ankles.

The Daily News reported in January about the plight of several officers of different ranks, all of whom have suffered so greatly from COVID that they are essentially disabled, unable to stay on with the NYPD.

Some have retired, while others are out sick.

Cops who contracted COVID when the pandemic hit the city in 2020 were told it was presumed they contracted the illness while working.