Judge reinstates embattled ex-RI state trooper's disability pension — here's why

PROVIDENCE — A Superior Court judge has reinstated the disability pension of a former Rhode Island State trooper, ruling that his colonel's denial of the benefits was arbitrary and capricious, according to lawyers involved in the case.

Judge Kevin F. McHugh last week ruled in favor of former trooper Jamie Donnelly-Taylor, the embattled officer who admitted to assaulting a Central Falls man in state police custody in 2014 and has sought to undo that conviction ever since.

Donnelly-Taylor was fired by Col. James Manni after he took command in early 2019, and after the new state police superintendent denied Donnelly-Taylor’s request for a disability pension for PTSD he said he developed on the job.

PTSD claim: 'This is a medical decision'

McHugh’s ruling retroactively reinstated the pension back to the application date in December 2018, after a doctor for the agency determined that Donnelly-Taylor had suffered permanent, disabling PTSD as a result of “a number of incidents” related to his employment, his lawyer Carly Iafrate said.

“Obviously, we are extremely pleased with the judge’s decision. We felt from the very beginning that the law … is very plain as to what is covered,” Iafrate said.

“This is a medical decision. This is not a political decision,” she added.

The state intends to appeal, according to lawyer Vincent F. Ragosta Jr., among the team of lawyers that represented the state.

“The state vehemently disagrees with the rationale of the decision reversing Col. Manni’s denial. We will be pursuing an appeal,” Ragosta said.

James Donnelly-Taylor's claims:Former RI State Police trooper alleges pattern of cover-ups in highest ranks of agency

How much is owed to Jamie Donnelly-Taylor

McHugh did accept the state’s position that disability pensions fall within the Rhode Island State Police colonel’s authority and discretion, Ragosta said.

Ragosta estimated that the benefits owed to Donnelly-Taylor exceeded $500,000, a “sizeable windfall” for someone the division believes developed the condition outside his duties as a state trooper, Ragosta said.

The Lionel Monsanto assault case

Donnelly-Taylor has waged a years’ long battle with the state over the circumstances surrounding his assault of Lionel Monsanto at the Lincoln barracks in 2014.

A grand jury indicted Donnelly-Taylor on a simple assault charge and he eventually pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor, but said he only did so based on the assurances of then state police Col. Steven G. O’Donnell that he would be indemnified if Monsanto filed suit. Donnelly-Taylor claimed, too, that O’Donnell wanted to prevent the release of a video of the assault.

Donnelly-Taylor has insisted that he struck Monsanto in self defense after being assaulted himself.

Monsanto filed suit in federal court, and the attorney general’s office refused to defend Donnelly-Taylor against those claims, a stance that was affirmed by the state Supreme Court.

The state settled with Monsanto for $125,000 in 2018.

Why Col. Manni denied the PTSD claim

Donnelly-Taylor has charged that his PTSD arose, in part, due to his treatment by his former employer and the state attorney general’s office in their handling of the Monsanto incident.

In denying his claim initially, Manni concluded that “Mr. Donnelly-Taylor’s disabling stress resulted not from his arrest of Mr. Monsanto but from his assault of Mr. [Lionel] Monsanto and its consequent fallout.”

In 2021, now retired Superior Court Judge Susan E. McGuirl ruled that Manni’s  reasoning was not enough, that he must specifically explain why he was denying the benefits.

Manni then issued a supplemental denial.

“His conclusion was that, at the end of the day, his medical condition was not connected to the duties of a trooper. It was because of an assault outside of his duties,” Ragosta said.

Donnelly-Taylor claims illegal retaliation in another lawsuit

In yet another case, Donnelly-Taylor is suing Manni and others, accusing them of illegally retaliating against him after he reported alleged wrongdoing and a coverup by former Lt. Col. Joseph Philbin and Captain Gerald McKinney of the assault of a juvenile in custody.

State police scandal:In 2012, a man fell outside a bar and later died. What happened is at the center of allegations of a state police coverup

The incident never led to a formal finding of wrongdoing, and a video that captured it disappeared. Manni referred the matter to the Connecticut State Police for review in 2019. Connecticut police issued a report that is now under seal in Superior Court.

The State Police refused a request by the Journal under the Access to Public Records Act to release the Connecticut report.

“The fact that the Superior Court noted the sensitivity of the report by placing safeguards in place before it would be released to an attorney, further cements the RISP’s position that denying this request is proper under the APRA,” wrote Adam J. Sholes, chief legal counsel for the state police.

Donnelly-Taylor is seeking to undo his conviction in a separate case.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Judge reinstates embattled ex-RI state trooper's disability pension