BY BEN L. KAUFMAN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A sharp-shooting Cincinnati police officer is suing the city, saying it violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by demoting him rather than accommodating his eye problem by means of reassignment.
His suit, filed in U.S. District Court by attorney Lisa T. Meeks, seeks the restart of Officer Robert A. Cook's career with lost seniority and unspecified damages.
Assistant Solicitor Julie F. Bissinger said the city properly accommodated Mr. Cook's disability when it gave him a job as a 911 operator.
He cannot perform the "essential functions" of a police officer, she said.
Mr. Cook said he was diagnosed with a permanently detached retina and loss of some vision in his right eye in 1995 and was transferred to the planning section as researcher - report writer in 1996.
Supervisors praised his work and he was allowed to carry his pistol, Ms. Meeks said.
Further, she said, Officer Cook qualified twice with his police-issued pistol at the outdoor target range, the outdoor combat course and firearms training simulator.
He also qualified twice with his own and a police-approved pistol at the outdoor target range, Ms. Meeks said.
Ms. Meeks said her client's qualifying scores were "high." She said his Ohio driver's license requires only that he must wear a corrective lens and he drove his police vehicle without incident during his months in the planning section.
Ms. Meeks said different police jobs have different essential requirements and some are less demanding than those of an officer on patrol.
In response to police division queries, one of Mr. Cook's physicians said he "must be considered disabled in terms of performing active police work. However, certainly he could be engaged in desk work or any kind of clerical work without any limitation."
On Oct. 17, 1996, city officials told Mr. Cook he was being fired for medical reasons and rejected his request for reassignment to police units where his eye problem would not limit his role.
Instead, the city transferred Mr. Cook from the police division to the 911 system as an emergency operator with an annual pay cut of about $13,000, Ms. Meeks said.
