Legal

Former Police Chief Shot on Duty Sues GVI For Halting Disability Pay Despite Court Order

A former VIPD police chief is suing the Government of the Virgin Islands, the V.I. Police Department, and other named defendants, for violating a previous court decision mandating that he continue to receive disability payments for an injury sustained in the line of duty.  According to court records, Christopher Howell joined the VIPD in 1992, and by 2011 had risen through the ranks to become the St. Croix Police Chief. In this position, he earned $93,000 as his annual base salary.  In August 2012, Mr. Howell responded to a reported armed robbery in progress. As he and other officers tried to subdue the suspects, the St. Croix police chief was shot twice by an assault rifle; once in the lower back and again in the left forearm.  The gunshot wounds, according to the civil complaint, “rendered him unfit to serve as a police officer and so qualified him for duty-connected disability payment pursuant to 3 VIC §584a.” According to the law, Mr. Howell was reportedly due his full annual sa...