The Justice Department is denying federal benefits to the families of the two auxiliary police officers who were brutally killed by a marauding gunman in the West Village last year.
Yevgeniy Marshalik's and Nicholas Pekearo's families each applied for $300,000 in benefits, part of the 2003 “Hometown Heroes” Congressional bill for families of first-responders killed in the line of duty. But the DOJ doesn't think they qualify, because NYC's “auxiliary police are not recognized as police officers and do not have power of arrest beyond that of a private citizen.”
The bill's co-writer Senator Chuck Schumer (pictured) blasted the decision: “Somebody in the Justice Department... was trying on the cheap to save money, and it was truly on the cheap, not just financially, but morally and ethically.” Police Commissioner Kelly, who will testify tomorrow to appeal, said, “the definition the Department of Justice has used regarding NYPD auxiliary officers in general, and these officers in particular, is too narrow and does not comport with Congress’s intention.”
NYC's auxiliary police officers are trained by the NYPD, wear NYPD-issued uniforms and carry nightsticks, handcuffs and police radios to help patrol the streets. Marshalik's father Boris also asked, “What makes the lost life of an auxiliary police officer who was killed in the line of duty and who saved many lives less valuable than the life of a police officer or peace officer? It’s not a question of money. It’s a question of recognition and a question of respect to the memory of my son and Nicholas.”
AP Photo/Dennis Cook
