Officer Denied Workers’ Comp for Cow Collision

(CN) - A Louisiana police officer can't collect workers' compensation benefits after he hit a cow with his police car while off duty, the state Supreme Court ruled.

Marvin Buxton injured his back on the job in 2004 after a motorcycle crashed into his police car.

But one month later, Buxton resigned after an investigation into items missing from the police evidence room uncovered drugs and evidence envelopes in Buxton's home.

He received two years probation after pleading no contest to a charge of malfeasance in office.

In 2007, Buxton suffered a broken nose and jaw after crashing into the cow, which hit the windshield and caved in the car over the driver's seat.

The trial court and court of appeals ruled that the cow accident exacerbated his work-related back injury, thus qualifying him for workers' compensation.

However, the state high court overturned the decision.

"The record contains no proof that the serious injuries from the cow accident were related to the on-the-job accident and injury. In Louisiana, as in the majority of states, there is a requirement that the subsequent injury flow from the work-related injury," Justice Weimer wrote.

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