Fired police officer Christopher Manney (left) listens at a March Fire and Police Commission hearing. Manney has been been approved for duty-disability retirement. Credit: Mark Hoffman

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The Milwaukee police officer who shot and killed Dontre Hamilton at Red Arrow Park has been approved for duty disability retirement.

Christopher Manney filed the claim two days before he was fired by Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn, saying the shooting and its aftermath left him suffering severe post-traumatic stress disorder.

Most officers and firefighters approved for duty disability receive 75% of their salaries, tax free, which results in about the same take-home pay as when they were working. Manney drew a gross salary of $71,014 in 2013, according to a Journal Sentinel database.

"That's disheartening to say the very least," Hamilton family attorney Jonathan Safran said Thursday.

The Hamiltons "feel once again that justice has not been served," he said.

Flynn fired Manney for his actions leading up to the shooting, but not for his use of force. The city's Fire and Police Commission upheld the firing, a decision that Manney then appealed in Milwaukee County Circuit Court.

Manney did not face state criminal charges in the shooting.

To claim duty disability with the city's Employees' Retirement System, officers must confirm their personal physician has certified them incapacitated because of an on-the-job injury.

Those claims are then reviewed by a panel of doctors. The city's Annuity and Pension Board is required by law to accept the recommendation of the independent medical panel.

The board voted to approve Manney's duty disability at its Sept. 28 meeting. At the same meeting, the board approved duty disability for Milwaukee police detective Willie Huerta, who was accused in federal court of helping a drug dealer and lying to the FBI about it.

Huerta, a longtime drug investigator, was first charged in federal court in May 2013 with obstruction of justice on allegations of helping a suspected drug dealer, Julio Cruz, get out of a traffic stop. That charge was dropped two weeks later.

In July 2013, Huerta filed an application for duty disability, contending he was totally disabled because of psychological and physical injuries resulting from the investigation, according to his application filed with the Milwaukee Employees' Retirement System.

His initial application was rejected.

In January 2014, he was indicted again, but three months later, the case was again dismissed. In the interim, Huerta had hired an attorney and refiled his duty disability claim. He had been suspended during the investigation and is now considered retired.