Minch v. Board of Trustees of Employees' Retirement System

Singley, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. Corporal Thomas P. Minch, a veteran Baltimore County police officer, was retired for reasons of physical disability ¹⁶⁸ in April, 1973. When his request for accidental disability benefits was denied by the Board of Trustees of the Employees’ Retirement System of Baltimore County (the Board), Minch appealed from the Board’s order first to Baltimore County’s Board of Appeals, then to the Circuit Court for Baltimore County, both of which affirmed the order. He now appeals to this Court.

Section 20-22 of Baltimore County Code (1968) provides for the payment of an accidental disability retirement allowance to an employee who “... has been totally and permanently incapacitated for duty as the natural and proximate result of an accident occurring while in the actual performance of duty at some definite time and place, without wilful negligence on his part. .. .” Minch contends that after his promotion to corporal in 1969, he was placed under psychological pressures and tension resulting from a significant increase in his responsibilities. The episode on which Minch relies to support his accidental injury claim is described in his brief: “[0]n 19 February 1972, during the performance of his duty as a Corporal in the Western Traffic Division of the Baltimore County Police Bureau with seven police vehicles under his command, he was driving his vehicle, equipped with tire chains, on the roads of Baltimore County during a snow storm. He [learned] over the radio communications system that another police vehicle under his jurisdiction had been involved in an accident with a civilian driver .who was believed to be under the influence. At the time he received the call he was some distance away from the scene of the accident.

His car was equipped with tire chains which prevented him from proceeding to the scene of the accident at normal speed. He knew that he had less than two hours remaining on his shift during which he would be required to investigate the accident and return the civilian driver to the Western ¹⁶⁹ Traffic Division Station for a breatholyzer test. This combination of circumstances caused him to become tense and nervous and added substantially to the stress that he was under at the time. He radioed back to headquarters and requested that the police officer involved in the accident be instructed to bring the civilian driver to the Western Traffic Station where he would meet him.

He was returning to the Western Traffic Station himself when he noted generalized pain and discomfort in the chest radiating to his arms. He returned to the Station, took leave the following day and went to see his personal physician who diagnosed his discomfort as heart attack.” Although Baltimore County Code § 20-22 does not seem to have been heretofore considered by this Court, we have had occasion to determine the effect of comparable statutory provisions. In three cases decided a year ago, Board of Trustees v. Rollins, 269 Md. 722 , 309 A. 2d 758 (1973); 1 Board of Trustees v. Grandinetti, 269 Md. 733 , 309 A. 2d 764 (1973), and Baker v. Board of Trustees, 269 Md. 740 , 309 A. 2d 768 (1973), 2 we considered the entitlement of employees of Baltimore City to special disability benefits. In Rollins , we upheld the award of a special disability benefit to a member of the Baltimore City Police Department who had been permanently disabled as a result of an injury he sustained when the police car which he was driving in the performance of his duties stopped at a traffic ¹⁷⁰ light and was struck in the rear.

In Grandinetti , we affirmed the award of accidental disability benefits to a city employee who contended that he had been disabled by two heart attacks, the first