Widow Fights for Hero's Final Due

Albequerque Journal Upfront ^ | September 13, 2001 | Joline Gutierrez Krueger

[UncleHambone]

The boy remembers stretching out his hands so far for a dropped bait bag that he fell into the swirling waters of the upper Rio Grande. "I reached for it and lost my balance," he told police. "I yelled twice, 'Kevin, help.' He came running and then jumped in after me." He remembers the water pulling him down, remembers seeing the sun disappear. He remembers Kevin's strong arms circling him, pulling him somewhere downstream of the Taos Junction Bridge. "Then I black out again," he said. "Then I woke up with his head in the water. I picked up his head. His face was blue." The boy, then 12, survived that August day in 2002. Kevin Schultz, an off-duty Pojoaque pueblo police officer, did not. No one disputes that Schultz, 44, saved the boy's life, his last ounce of strength just enough to thrust the unconscious boy onto the shoreline but not enough to lift his own head from the water to breathe. He was, by all accounts, a hero.

Read more: ABQJOURNAL UPFRONT: Widow Fights for Hero's Final Due http://www.abqjournal.com/upfront/13234352upfront09-13-10.htm#ixzz0zOhEhVZ6 Subscribe Now Albuquerque Journal

[UncleHambone]

Read more: ABQJOURNAL UPFRONT: Widow Fights for Hero's Final Due http://www.abqjournal.com/upfront/13234352upfront09-13-10.htm#ixzz0zOhEhVZ6 Subscribe Now Albuquerque Journal

[An.American.Expatriate]

Subscription Only :(

Maybe you can tell us more?

[UncleHambone]

Link to article. Sorry, not sure why the link points where it does. The source is one that only allows an excerpt and link.

[Shimmer1]

How irritating! You must have a subscription so you can see it, but we cannot.

It’s very irritating to start reading and get interested in an article and then be barred from finishing it. :(

[DJ MacWoW]

It's still a subscription only link.

You can tell us in your own words what happened.

[Excellence]

She file a worker's comp death claim. It was denied because he wasn't on duty at the time. She appealed but was late (inexcusably, in my opinion) in delivering the appeal. She applied for an extension, which was granted, but supposedly by the wrong entity. The extension was denied. She appealed to the Supreme Court of the State of New Mexico, who overturned the decision and ordered the lower court of appeals to hear her case based on the merits. If she had put a little effort into it, she'd be on her way to an appeal a long time ago. So she's back to the original effort of receiving a death benefit from worker's comp for the off-duty death of her husband.

[CedarDave]

The article can be read for free; see below:

NM list PING!

(The NM list is available on my FR homepage for anyone to use. Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from the list. For ABQ Journal articles requiring a subscription, scroll down to the bottom of the page to view the article for free after watching a short video commercial.)