Mayor Price says workers’ comp firm crossed line after officer’s shooting

Mayor Betsy Price has admonished the workers’ compensation company in charge of providing benefits to a police officer who was shot in the line of duty, saying a representative asked “inflammatory questions” the morning after the incident.

Sgt. S. Drake, a 19-year veteran of the Fort Worth Police Department, was shot in the abdomen Thursday night as he and another officer responded to a woman’s 911 call for help with her son.

Drake was taken to Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth. He was resting comfortably after surgery Saturday, according to a Police Department tweet at about 2:15 p.m.

Price said the workers’ compensation representative showed up at the hospital the morning after the shooting and proceeded to ask questions of the family, officers and hospital staff.

“You have an officer injured and a family trying to figure out what is what, and it is just wrong. I was just furious with this company for using bad judgment,” Price said.

In a letter to the company, CorVel Enterprise Comp, Price said, “Neither I, nor anyone at the City of Fort Worth, would condone this type of behavior during such a critical and sensitive time in the life of an officer.”

CorVel had not responded to calls and emails seeking comment as of Saturday night.

In the letter, Price calls for a meeting Thursday with Gordon Clemons, the company’s CEO, “in order to determine the facts and get to the bottom of this matter.”

Price told the Star-Telegram that the city has had previous complaints about CorVel.

Drake was one of the officers who arrived at a house in the 4800 block of Hildring Drive. The woman who had called for help pointed them toward a back bedroom and said her son had shut himself inside.

When the bedroom door opened, a man fired a handgun, and the officers returned fire.

The man, identified Friday by the Tarrant County medical examiner’s office as 40-year-old Wendell King, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Staff writer Mark David Smith contributed to this report.

This story was originally published January 31, 2015 at 1:11 PM with the headline "Mayor Price says workers’ comp firm crossed line after officer’s shooting."