Seattle officer assigned to clean up homeless camps files $10M claim

SEATTLE (AP) — A Seattle police officer has filed a $10 million claim against the city, alleging it negligently exposed him to “an extremely dangerous man-made toxin” by assigning him and other city workers to clean up a homeless encampment.

The Seattle Times reports officer Timothy Gifford contends he was exposed to high concentrations of the toxic chemical compounds polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) during the Jan. 8 cleanup of the camp in a gravel lot in the Sodo neighborhood.

As a result of the alleged exposure, Gifford claims in the Wednesday filing that he has been diagnosed with early onset Type 2 diabetes and now generally suffers from poor health.

His attorney, Lincoln Beauregard, says the officer previously had been in good physical health, managing a lifelong liver condition during his more than seven years in police work.

“The exposure to these toxins damaged his already susceptible liver even further,” Beauregard said. “Now, he faces ongoing medical care.”

A spokesperson for the city’s Finances and Administration Department, which handles tort claims, says the department doesn’t comment on active claims or lawsuits.

City records and officials have acknowledged the homeless-encampment removal occurred, and separately, that the city-owned industrial lot where the camp stood was later found to be contaminated, requiring ongoing environmental remediation.

Gifford’s claim for damages, which incorporates internal city documents indicating as many as 58 other city employees may have been exposed to unsafe PCB levels at the site, states he “was neither warned or trained of the associated hazards or issued appropriate protective gear” prior to the camp cleanup in January.

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Information from: The Seattle Times, http://www.seattletimes.com