As a young Fairfax County police officer, Erik Tate also held aspot in the Marine Corps Reserves, so when his unit was called toSaudi Arabia in late 1990 for Desert Shield, Tate gave up hispatrolman's uniform for a soldier's.
Three months later, Tate nearly gave up his life when his militarytruck crashed in the Kuwaiti desert and caught fire, killing thedriver who sat next to him. Tate suffered burns over 65 percent ofhis body and lost most of his left leg.
Doctors predicted two years of recovery. But Tate fought back,learned to walk again with an artificial leg and returned to fullduty as a Fairfax police officer in January 1992--about nine monthsafter the accident.
Now, Fairfax County wants Tate off the police force.
Police commanders recently notified him that because of hisinjuries, they are placing him on light duty--a job classificationthat he calls unnecessary and that county policy says he can have foronly one year. If his condition hasn't improved within 12 months,officials say, he can either take a civilian job or be fired.
Fairfax police officials said they have nothing against Tate buthave a policy of not keeping permanently injured officers on thepayroll for 15 or 20 years.
'The purpose of the policy,' which went into effect two years ago,'is to ensure that people in police officer positions are able tofunction as police officers,' said Deputy Chief Richard J. Rappoport.
It was carefully devised, he said, and has nearly wiped outrestricted duty rolls.
Tate, who says no county doctor has ever tested his mobility orquestioned his capacity to perform 'essential job tasks' of a policeofficer on the street, has responded with a lawsuit in U.S. DistrictCourt in Alexandria.
He seeks not only to keep his job but also to get compensatorydamages and legal fees.
'I must've read it about 100 times,' Tate, 34, said of the letterinforming him of his pending dismissal. 'I still read it. I can'tbelieve it's happening to me.'
It isn't the first time the issue has arisen. Two years ago,Fairfax police sent Tate a similar notice. He filed a complaint withthe Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and provided a letterfrom his doctor saying he was fit for full duty.
The department reinstated him, and the EEOC ruled that Fairfax wasin violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Now, the issue has returned. 'You get frustrated, disappointed,'Tate said. 'You think you have closure to something, it opens it backup. And it's not just about Erik Tate now. I have two little ones,'he said, noting that he supports his wife, Shirl, and two boys, ages5 and 18 months.
Rappoport noted that the EEOC opinion did not carry the authorityof a federal court, which enforces discrimination law.
'We're confident that we're in compliance with any federal statutewith regards to employment law,' he said.
Tate's lawyer disagrees. Her client has a high-tech titanium kneeand leg that allows him nearly full mobility.
'They say, without any basis, they don't think he could run,'lawyer Carla M. Siegel said. 'But in fact, he can. He playsbasketball, he goes skiing, he can patrol streets, he can workaccidents. For the department to say, 'We're going to presume youcan't do all these things,' that's a prime example ofdiscrimination.'
Tate was something of a local hero in 1991 when he returned from athree-month stay in a military hospital in Germany. Fellow Fairfaxofficers donated enough paid leave to support Tate for a year.Friends and classmates from South Lakes High School in Reston, wherehe graduated in 1983, organized a benefit basketball game againstmembers of the Washington Redskins, including Gary Clark, Art Monkand Charles Mann.
'At that game,' Tate said, then-Chief John E. Granfield 'said I'dhave a job whenever I'm ready. That was a motivational tool for me.'
The game raised $8,500 for Tate, who in turn pledged to organize asimilar event the next year for Children's Hospital. This time, hewould be playing, he promised.
And he was. 'Scored six points, too,' said Tate, with the enduringbraggadocio of a former three-sport varsity athlete.
But getting to that point was agonizing. He struggled through skingrafts and uncomfortable prosthetics and gradually became mobileagain. In January 1992, he joined the warrant squad, helping trackdown and arrest criminals.
'No problems,' Tate said. With his disability concealed, thebarrel-chested Tate said no one ran from him, 'and I didn't tellpeople, 'I've got one leg, and now I'm going to lock you up.' '
After Tate's first tour of restricted duty and then hisreinstatement, Fairfax police began requiring that their own doctorsexamine officers. The doctors ruled that Tate did not meet thestandards for an active-duty officer, although Tate said they neverlooked at his titanium leg or asked him about his abilities on it.
'It just seems like it's a waste,' said J.D. Fowler, president ofthe Fairfax Police Coalition, 'especially in Erik's case, where heprobably can do 99.9 percent of the job.'
