Port Orange Police sergeant's widow approved for COVID benefits, his K9 honored

PORT ORANGE — A little over a year after the COVID-related death of Port Orange Police Sgt. Justin White, the officer’s family received good news this week in an ongoing battle to secure COVID death benefits.

The U.S. Department of Justice has determined that White died in the line of duty and has awarded federal in-line of duty benefits, said his widow, Carlyn White.

That Public Safety Officer Benefit offered through the Department of Justice provides a death/disability lump sum of up to $370,376. The program includes the presumption that COVID was contracted in the line of duty.

For White's widow, the benefit represents more than financial resources.

"Justin was our sole provider, so this shook us to core of our family," she said. "He’s been the rock in our family. With this, it’s like he’s showing that he’s still our rock, still providing and taking care of us. It has a deeper meaning than most people would think."

A 15-year veteran of the Port Orange Police Department, Justin White died on Aug. 5, 2021, from complications of COVID-19. He was 39.

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A year-long battle: Widow of Port Orange Police sergeant fights for benefits a year after his COVID death

In the 15 months since his death, his widow has been battling to have her husband’s loss designated as a line-of-duty death that would entitle her and the couple’s four children — Tyler, 17; Savannah, 13; Andrew, 11; and Emily, 8 — to workers’ compensation benefits from the City of Port Orange.

That effort at the city level continues, she said on Friday, adding that negotiations between the family and the city's insurance provider are "wrapping up."

Meanwhile, news of approval of the federal benefit was cheered on Friday by Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood, who has been an advocate for White’s family to receive it.

“Finally, the truth has gotten out there that Justin’s death should be declared an in-the-line-of-duty death,” Chitwood said. “Law-enforcement officers, any first responder, we didn’t get to shelter in place during COVID. We had to go out and do the job. I’m ecstatic for the family because I know they need these benefits.”

White family endures another loss

At the same time that the positive benefit news arrived, the family also faced another emotional loss on Friday.

Officer White’s retired Port Orange police K9, Rex, who turned 14 in October, was honored with a solemn escort by city police officers from the family’s Port Orange home to an Ormond Beach veterinary clinic to be euthanized in the wake of serious health issues.

Officers, family and friends lined the walkway outside the vet’s office to quietly pay their respects.

Rex’s declining condition “led me to make the tough decision to put him down, at the guidance of his vet,” Carlyn said.

For the family, the decision about Rex intensified the grief about her husband's death, she said.

"Rex was not just a family pet; he was Justin’s partner," she said. "There was something that was significant and unique and special about him. So his passing was just another part of Justin passing away.

"We used to call Rex 'Justin's shadow' because they were a team. It’s very difficult for our family."

Carlyn plans to have Rex cremated and laid to rest next to her husband in the family’s estate lot at Lohman Funeral Home’s Daytona Memorial Park.

Workers' comp battle sparks call for change

When it comes to Officer White receiving workers' comp benefits from the city, the issue is yet to be settled.

On behalf of the couple’s four children, Carlyn White filed for death benefits a year ago through a workers' compensation claim with the city and its insurer, Preferred Governmental Claim Solutions of Lake Mary. Six days after his death, that claim was denied, as it could not be proven he contracted COVID-19 on the job.

Her extended battle has sparked a call by lawmakers to change the state's law to give first responders who are out of work or die from COVID-19 the presumption that they contracted it while on the job.

As the law exists now, the burden falls upon the workers’ family to prove that COVID was contracted on the job.

In the legislature: State Rep. Elizabeth Fetterhoff files bill offering COVID presumption for safety workers

In the 2022 legislative session, Rep. Elizabeth Fetterhoff, R-DeLand, helped author House Bill 117 that would offer the presumption that first-responders who had contracted COVID were exposed to the virus on the job. The bill stalled in the Government Operations Subcommittee.

The session also yielded an identical companion bill, Senate Bill 774, co-sponsored by Sen. Joe Gruters (R-Sarasota) and Jason Pizzo (D-Miami), that also died in committee.

Port Orange City Attorney Matthew Jones said that he applauds the effort to change the existing law that has governed the city’s response to White’s application for benefits.

“The law in workman’s comp has not caught up with how to handle these COVID cases,” Jones said.

The negotiations over Officer White’s workers’ comp benefits involve Carlyn White and the city’s insurer, Preferred Governmental Claim Solutions of Lake Mary, Jones said.

“The city is insured for this claim, and they (the insurance company) are in the driver’s seat,” he said. “I do know that they have been told by the city that we want them to do everything they possibly can to help this family out. This is not a contentious discussion. It’s what can we do? How can we get as much of a benefit as we can to this family?”

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Port Orange Police Sgt White's K9 honored, widow gets COVID benefit