NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION This opinion shall not "constitute precedent or be binding upon any court ." Although it is posted on the internet, this opinion is binding only on the parties in the case and its use in other cases is limited. R. 1:36-3. SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY APPELLATE DIVISION DOCKET NO. A-3241-19 DERICK VEERDEN, Petitioner-Appellant, v. BOARD OF TRUSTEES, POLICE AND FIREMEN'S RETIREMENT SYSTEM, Respondent-Respondent. _____________________________ Submitted May 11, 2021 – Decided June 16, 2021 Before Judges Gilson and Gummer. On appeal from Board of Trustees of the Police and Firemen's Retirement System, Department of the Treasury, Docket No. 3-10-05549. Limsky Mitolo, attorneys for appellant (Marcia J. Mitolo, of counsel and on the briefs). Robert Seymour Garrison, Jr., Director of Legal Affairs, PFRSNJ, attorney for respondent (Thomas R. Hower, Staff Attorney, on the brief). PER CURIAM Appellant Derick Veerden, a former Hudson County Corrections officer, appeals from an April 14, 2020 final administrative determination by the Board of Trustees of the Police and Firemen's Retirement System (Board), which denied his application for accidental disability retirement benefits. Appellant argues that the Board erred in finding that the incident that caused his physical injuries was not "undesigned and unexpected." Discerning no basis to disagree with the Board's findings, we affirm. I. From 1996 to 2018, appellant was employed as a corrections officer with the Hudson County Department of Corrections. On August 16, 2016, he injured his back while working when he went to assist a fellow officer break up a fight between two inmates. In December 2017, appellant applied for accidental disability retirement benefits. The Board granted him ordinary disability but denied his appl ication for accidental disability. Appellant administratively appealed and the matter was transferred for an evidentiary hearing before the Office of Administrative Law. An Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) conducted a hearing on May 31, 2019. Appellant and a fellow corrections officer, who was appellant's work A-3241-19 2 partner, testified at the hearing and the ALJ reviewed various documents, including reports on the incident. Most of the material facts were not in dispute. On August 16, 2016, appellant was performing his normal duties of working with his partner, Officer Korey Wright, to transport immigration detainees from the Hudson County Correctional Facility to court hearings in New York. After appellant and Wright secured the inmates they were going to transport in a bullpen, another officer arrived in the area escorting two other inmates. That officer requested Wright's assistance to take handcuffs off the inmates. As the handcuffs were being removed, the two inmates began to fight. Appellant intervened to assist Wright and the other officer. Appellant testified that he pulled the inmate off Wright and he "guessed" that he may have fallen backwards and hit concrete or a bench. He also testified that he then pushed one of the inmates into another cell and locked the door. In the contemporaneous report appellant wrote and submitted concerning the incident, he does not mention …
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