198 A.D. 30 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1921
Alfred G. Kahl was appointed as a member of the board of water supply police force under 'the provisions of chapter 724 of the Laws of 1905, as amended by chapter 314 of the Laws of 1906, section 35 of the act providing that “ it shall be the duty of the board of water supply of the city of New York to provide proper police protection to the inhabitants of the localities in which any work may be constructed under the authority of this act and during the period of construction, against the acts or omissions of persons employed on such works or found in the neighborhood thereof; and to that end the said board is hereby authorized and required to appoint a sufficient number of persons to adequately police the said localities for the said periods.” The same section provides for the payment of these policemen, and provides that “ the said board shall give to each person so appointed a certificate of appointment and certified copies thereof, one of which shall be filed in the office of the sheriff of each county in which any work shall be in process of construction under this act and in which said person shall be authorized to perform his duties.” It was further provided that “ each of said persons so appointed shall be and have all the powers of a peace officer in the county where any work is being constructed
Of course it has been held that a policeman of the city of New York is not within the purview of the Workmen’s Compensation Law (Matter of Ryan v. City of New York, 228 N. Y. 16), but the State Industrial Commission has discovered that the claimant’s intestate is different from a policeman in the city of New York; that he is an employee engaged in operating a vehicle under the provisions of group 41 of section 2 of the statute (as amd. by Laws of 1917, chap. 705), because at the particular moment of the accident
This view of the question makes it unnecessary to consider whether there was evidence to establish that the death from influenza-pneumonia was such a “ disease or infection as may naturally and unavoidably result ” from the accident to the foot of the claimant’s intestate. (See Workmen’s Compensation Law, § 3, as amd. by Laws of 1917, chap. 705.) The evidence is slight, at best, and it is better to determine the award upon the basis already discussed. The Legislature evidently did not consider policemen within the act, because on May5,1920, “all policemen of villages” were included within the employees engaged in hazardous employments by an amendment of the statute. (See Laws of 1920, chap. 536, adding to Workmen’s Compensation Law, § 2, group 47.)
The award should be reversed and the claim dismissed.
All concur.
Award reversed and claim dismissed.