The family of former Santa Barbara police officer, David Anduri, had sued the former city policy chief and a former city administrator. They say that their son was denied workers’ compensation benefits after he started to suffer from serious post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) because of job related experiences. They are suing for wrongful death because they claim that denial drove him to drink, and he ultimately died from alcohol related liver failure.

David Anduri worked as an officer in Santa Barbara, California for 13 years. He witnessed serious scenes on the job involving people who had tried to commit, or had committed suicides, he had seen dead bodies, sexual assaults and other heinous crimes while on duty. He reported that he was often one of the first to respond to grisly scenes. According to the Santa Barbara Independent, he was also training for the bomb squad in the department but he started to have hand tremors because of the stress of it all.

He applied for workers’ compensation but was denied in May 2013. He had seen two doctors, both physicians recommended to him by the city, and both of them said he had debilitating stress and PTSD symptoms that stemmed from his duties. He sought medical retirement when his workers’ comp claim was denied but he did not receive that either. He was discharged from his job that year as well. He died of liver failure in October 2014, and his parents say he had turned to alcohol to help ease his stress and PTSD symptoms because he could not afford health insurance or treatment.

The year that Mr. Anduri sought workers’ comp benefits, the police department reported their highest number of workers’ comp claims for the five year period between 2010 and 2015. They reported 1,064 claims in 2013. His parents are seeking things like damages for his loss, lost wages, funeral costs and retirement benefits.