TW: Suicide, teen death 

In a case of first impression, the Supreme Court of Minnesota has determined the application of the state's amended PTSD presumption statute when medical experts on opposing sides offer competing opinions. The case is Juntunen v. Carlton County, 2022 Minn. LEXIS 554 (Minn. 2022). 

Douglas Juntunen began his tenure as a deputy sheriff in 2001, where he had a front-row seat to tragic events; two particular moments stood out. The first was a fatal car accident involving a teenage boy who, like Juntunen's son, had recently passed his driving test. When Juntunen saw the boy's head crushed against the steering wheel, all he could think about was how it could have been his son who died in a wreck. In the second event, Juntunen and his partner, in separate squad cars, were pursuing a suspect driving a truck; Juntunen actually knew the suspect and was on friendly terms with him prior to the chase. After the suspect stopped his truck, he emerged with a gun. Juntunen was speaking to the suspect when he said to Juntunen "Tell my kids that I love them" and immediately shot himself; later at the scene, a medical examiner directly blamed Juntunen and his partner for the man's death. A few years later, one of Juntunen's former colleagues committed suicide mere days after Juntunen had helped the colleague move to Ohio.