Ex-NJ Transit cop who got disability pension because he couldn't hold gun still shoots at range

By Jeff Goldman/The Star-Ledger
December 11, 2013 at 3:36 PM

A former New Jersey Transit police officer was able to retire with a full pension because doctors said he couldn't hold a gun after the officer inadvertently stapled his finger.

Yet Christopher Onesti still makes leisurely trips to a local shooting range, where he has no trouble discharging a high-powered weapon. That's what an investigation by New Jersey Watchdog uncovered.

Onesti, who lives in suburban Philadelphia, doesn't just get an "ordinary disability" pension ? instead he receives a better-paying "accidental disability" pension that public records indicate pays him $45,936.24 a year tax-free.

It's estimated Onesti will be paid about $2 million from the pension fund if he lives until 80, the report said.

He was injured in 2006 when he mishandled a staple gun while re-attaching a target knocked over by the wind at a shooting range in Stafford. Then 27, Onesti received a wound the "size of a pinprick," according to the New Jersey Watchdog report.

Onesti still managed to pass his qualifying test that day after applying a Band-Aid to the ring finger on his non-shooting hand.

The following day, Onesti reported the injury to his superiors, who told him to seek medical care. Two surgeries and 18 months later, doctors determined that Onesti could no longer work as a transit cop, according to the Watchdog/WNBC-4 report.

"There's no way you're totally and permanently disabled from a staple in the finger," John Sierchio, a Police and Firemen's Retirement System trustee told New Jersey Watchdog.

When contacted by New Jersey Watchdog and WNBC-4, Onesti admitted that "it's ridiculous" and "absurd" that he was ruled permanently disabled and is able to collect a full pension.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2013 ... oes_to_range_to_shoo.html

http://newjersey.watchdog.org/2013/12/10/9524/