Man With One Leg, Not Accepted by LAPD, Sues

A 22-year-old man with one leg filed a discrimination lawsuit Thursday against the city of Los Angeles, claiming he was barred from becoming an LAPD officer even though he passed the department’s entrance requirements, including its physical abilities test.

Matthew Wayne Christensen of Sacramento contends that he was rejected solely because he wears a left leg prosthesis as a result of a congenital, below-the-knee amputation.

“I went down to apply for the Police Department thinking that all I had to do was take what they threw at me, and I would have a job,” said Christensen, who applied to become an LAPD officer in June 1997. “I feel like the city of Los Angeles took a piece of my future--a future that I have earned.”

City and LAPD officials declined to comment on Christensen’s case, citing pending litigation concerns. The LAPD prides itself on the physical fitness of its officers and often rejects recruits who fail to meet its standards. But Christensen, notwithstanding his partially amputated limb, says he exceeds all the requirements, and his lawsuit seeks to force the LAPD to let him join the police force.

Christensen scored in the 95th percentile on his LAPD oral exam and passed the physical abilities test, which examines endurance, strength, agility and balance.

Nevertheless, a city physician disqualified Christensen because of what the doctor said was “a medical condition which either limits your ability to perform an essential task or which would create a direct risk of harm if you were employed” as an officer.

Fighting for a second chance, Christensen sent city officials a videotape of himself running through the physical agility course used by the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department. Christensen is shown scaling two 6-foot walls and jumping hurdles. According to Christensen’s lawsuit, he skis, rides horses, goes rock-climbing, and plays basketball, soccer and baseball.

“I didn’t want the publicity and I didn’t want a lawsuit,” said Christensen, who currently works as a financial planning consultant. “But this is a career that I’ve put my life on hold to obtain.”