Mayor Reacts to Union Leader's Threat

ATLANTA (MyFOX Atlanta) - An injured ex-cop hopes to channel a controversial -- even threatening – statement directed at the mayor into something positive for police officers.

The leader of the police union, Sgt. Scott Kreher, struck out at the mayor at a recent city meeting over medical treatment provided to officers, saying "I want to beat her in the head with a baseball bat."

A catastrophic injury is what five city cops endured. The issue behind the red-hot statement made about the mayor is the frustration of these officers who are saying they're being denied medication.

"I shot him. We started fighting. I lost all my strength. I fell to the ground. He started to leave. Blood was flying all over the place. People were screaming," recalls former officer J.J. Biello.

Biello had to fight to survive a robbery-shooting that left him paralyzed in 1987 at Provino's Restauranat on Roswell Road. Twenty-two years later, Biello said he is in another fight. He's trying to prod the city of Atlanta to ensure he'll be able to maintain the same kind of health care he's accustomed to receiving.

There are five seriously injured Atlanta officers who are back in the news due to a headline-grabbing, verbal grenade lobbed at Mayor Shirley Franklin -- a statement critical of the way she's handled the health concerns of the officers.

Kreher said on May 20, "To be treated the way they are now is unconscionable. I just want to beat her in the head with a baseball bat sometimes when I think about it."

"I think it's intended to intimidate me, my family and city officials. I think it's very dangerous language and when someone says they want to take a bat and hit you in the head, from my experience, they want to kill you," said Mayor Franklin

She said she wasn't at the meeting when the comment was made. Sgt. Kreher said he hopes the mayor understands the context of his frustration.

"So I certainly hope the mayor accepts my apology. It wasn't directed to her specifically, it was directed at the way these officers are being treated," said Kreher.

"There is no context for violence. There no context to explain trying to hit someone over the head with a bat," said Franklin.

Sgt. Kreher said he has written a letter of apology to the mayor, but the mayor said she has not received any apology. Franklin didn't want to talk about the workman comp issues facing the injured police officers until she could study the problem more closely. She did say she will take action on the comment.

"I will complain to authorities." "Who would those be?" "Federal authorities, state authorities, and police authorities," said Franklin.

The frustration has boiled over due to a change the city made to privatize the workman's compensation plan. The private provider, Biello said, treats him differently than when the city processed the claims.

"It's unfortunate he made the statement, but by no means, let's not focus on the statement. Let's focus on the five catastrophic police officers that were injured trying to life and property in the city," said Biello.

Biello said, over two years, the company tried to downgrade his care for everything from the home attendant he requires, to a broken wheelchair and even his life sustaining oxygen.

Officer Biello, who at one time was a local politician, said he likes Franklin, but cannot understand why she hasn't returned any of his phone calls.