Petrocelli v. Workmen's Compensation Appeals Board

Opinion

FILES, P. J.

This is a proceeding to review a decision of the Workmen’s Compensation Appeals Board denying compensation upon the ground that the injury was not work-related.

The evidentiary facts are not in dispute.. The applicant is a police officer of the City of Hermosa Beach. November 26, 1973, was his usual day off, but, because a motion picture company was working in that city, he was assigned to direct traffic, in uniform. For this assignment he received overtime pay from the city. About 3 p.m. it appeared his services were no longer needed so he was relieved. He’then went to a

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theatre in the adjacent city of Redondo Beach to see a motion picture. When he left the theatre at about 6:10 p.m. it was dark. As he walked to his automobile in the parking lot, still in uniform, he noticed a parked vehicle with five young men in it huddled together. He was aware there had been a lot of tampering with cars in that lot, and these men “just didn’t look right,” so the applicant decided to walk by them to have a closer view. As he walked, he tripped over a divider on the pavement and fell, breaking his left arm.

The referee concluded that this evidence did not show that the applicant’s injury had arisen out of or in the course of his employment, and upon that ground denied compensation. Applicant’s petition to the board for reconsideration was denied. It does not appear that there was any basis for disbelieving the applicant’s testimony, or that either the referee or the board rejected any of it as untrue. For the purpose of this decision, we regard the facts as established. (See

Garza

v.

Workmen’s Comp. App. Bd.

(1970) 3 Cal.3d 312, 317-318 [90 Cal.Rptr. 355, 475 P.2d 451].) The issue is one of law.

The following legal standards are applicable:

The Standard Operating Procedural Manual of the Hermosa Beach Police Department admonished the officer that he was “always on duty” and, particularly, while in uniform he was to conduct himself as though he was then on duty.