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Debbie Dujanovic ReportingThey didn't hesitate to take down meth labs in our neighborhoods. Now, they're sick, tired, and worried no one cares about their conditions.
"Yeah I'm mad. I'm past the point of, 'Let's talk about it.'"
"I've heard a lot of officers say, 'Let's not do meth labs anymore.'"
Tonight, a follow-up to an Eyewitness News Investigation, that found dozens of sick Utah police officers. The common link is meth lab investigations. So what's been done, or more importantly, what has NOT been done?
As of tonight, we've documented 84 Utah officers who are sick, dying, or already dead. The officers are asking us, who's going to help?
The video: an officers story beginning to end. Officer Shaun Adamson was dead at 43, from a seizure.
Kolby Adamson, Son of Shaun Adamson: "My mom did a lot of research and the only thing she could find out is doctors would say exposure to certain chemicals would cause seizures."
He raided Meth labs in the '90's, issued only rubber gloves. We uncovered government reports and warnings about what the chemicals used to make meth can do to people who are exposed. Does it explain Aundre Leavitt's brain lesions?
Sgt. Aundre Leavitt, Provo Police Department: "You look at big, strong guys who were in there trying to protect the community and doing their job. Now they're dead."
Al Taylor, State Dept. of Corrections: "I have papillary thyroid cancer."
As a SWAT officer for the state, Al Taylor recalls fire, smoke, his skin burning at raids. State officials flew in an expert who warned, officers need protection. That was in '96
Al Taylor, Utah Department of Corrections: "I left the SWAT team in 2002, and still I hadn't received the equipment that we needed. And we had asked for it and asked for it."
He works three jobs, drained savings, and owes thousands for treatment.
Dennis Harris, Utah County Sheriff's Office: "We have police officers who are going bankrupt because they can't afford their medical bills, and that is wrong."
Sgt. Shaun Bufton, Utah County Sheriff's Office: "I'm mad, yeah I'm real mad. I'd like to know from legislators, if that was there son or their daughter doing undercover drug work, how fast would laws change?"
So far the message to the meth lab officers is: your medical bills are your problem. Utah lawmakers canned a proposal to compensate those with cancer.
Fifty-five are tangled in workers comp claims. Others have asked their local governments for help, with no reply. Now, they face a fight that could take years, and they are afraid no one is listening.
We took it to the man who heads the Utah Department of Public Safety. He says it's time the state steps in.
Robert Flowers, Utah Department of Public Safety: "I think they should be compensated. I think they should be taken care of medically like you would do any injury --someone goes out and gets in an accident, gets hurt during an arrest, they get shot, they can't work on duty-- they fall in the same camp as those individuals."
Flowers told Eyewitness News he will involve the Governor, form a task force, and move quickly. Of the 84 cases we've documented, 30-percent are cancer. The newest case is liver cancer; the officer's age, 37.
