A little while back we posted a story about a Michigan man who got fed up with trying to get Social Security Disability benefits and lashed out against his local office. The 47-year-old man claimed to be in a “fit of rage” after the government refused to grant him disability benefits for his bad back. In early July, he decided that he had had enough and backed his van into the entrance of his local Social Security office. He is currently facing charges for the malicious destruction of property, which might mean up to five years in prison for him.
In a peculiar turn of events, the man is now set to begin receiving disability benefits. The Social Security Administration (“SSA”) ended up approving his benefits request at last, and the man is set to begin receiving about $1,000 a month.
The district manager for the man’s Social Security office claims that the van crash and the approval for benefits were not at all related. The manager noted that another office made the decision to grant the man benefits and that the decision comes from the man’s disability and not his actions in July. If the man does actually go to jail for crashing into the office, the SSA would suspend his benefits, as prisoners are not supposed to be receiving disability benefits.
Is this a case where the SSA should draw the line or have some regulations that prohibit benefits from going to the man? More information on what led the SSA to finally approve the man’s application would also be interesting to learn. He has been trying to obtain benefits for years now, so you have to wonder what changed in the past year that led the SSA to have a change of heart. With tens of thousands of disability benefits patiently waiting on their applications, we hope that the SSA did not in fact reward the man’s violent lashing out.
Troutman & Troutman, P.C. – Tulsa Oklahoma SSI lawyers
