Colorado coroner refuses to pick up any more bodies unless he gets a pay rise as he is accused of refusing to attend the scene of a death because he'd already worked 20 hours that week

A Colorado coroner is refusing to pick up any more bodies unless he gets a pay raise - and is threatening to sue if the county commissioners refuse.

Tommy Dunagan, the coroner of Prowers County, argues that he is only a part-time employee and should not have to work more than 20 hours if he is not being paid as a full-time employee.

The issue came to a head over Memorial Day weekend, when he allegedly refused to attend the scene of a death because he already 'had his hours in' and didn't have enough hours to work the following weekend.

He told county officials that none of his five deputies were able to respond to the scene, either, and 'that he would respond the following day when he was back on call' the following day, Chairman of the Commissioners Ron Cook said at a special meeting on June 4.

As a result, Cook claimed, the body was left laying in a field while an ambulance at the scene waited for county officials to find someone who is legally allowed to transport a body.

Finally, after a back-and-forth, Dunagan finally agreed to respond to the scene when county commissioners agreed to hold a special meeting to discuss raising his salary, 9 News reports.

At that special meeting last week, county commissioners expressed their frustration with Dunagan's response, with Cook noting that he 'took an oath as the coroner... to take care of any deaths in the county' and is responsible for having someone available to perform those duties if he is not available.

'It is very unfortunate that we were put in that position,' he said of the delayed response on June 1, noting that he knew the deceased. 

'It was very upsetting that this conversation had to go public,' Cook added. 'I think there were ways to handle this more professionally.'

Residents at the meeting also hit out at Dunagan for his apparent new rule, with one woman noting that he 'campaigned on bringing dignity, transparency and compassion' to the coroner's office.

'Does anybody in this room, and I defy you if you say yes, think there's any dignity, compassion or transparency to leaving a body?'

She went on to call his apparent refusal to respond 'despicable,' while another resident said it was 'inappropriate.'

'At that moment you decided to dig your heels in and leave a human body, disrespectfully, waiting for you to decide whether or not they are paying you enough money.'

Dunagan has since denied that there was a delay in his response and claimed the decedent was not 'left lying in a field because I refused to respond.' 

But at the meeting, he just seemed to double down, noting that he has never left a body 'before now' and claiming there isn't 'much else I can do without being compensated'.

'I don't feel that beyond 20 hours I should have to take calls after that,' he claimed at the meeting. 

Dunagan has brought up issues about working more than 20 hours in the past, leading state lawmakers to pass a measure allowing county commissioners to make him a full-time employee by January 2024. 

Instead, the commissioners gave him money to hire some deputies and increased the Coroner's Office budget by $15,000, to be used to replenish supplies.

They cannot amend his salary again until 2026, under state law.

But Dunagan has now hired his own attorney to push lawmakers to raise his salary, and is demanding that the county pay for his legal fees. 

He has also hit out at the commissioners for inviting 'several uninterested parties and my political rivals to the meeting and [providing] them information on an active death investigation.

'It [was] wrong and improper to do so and was disrespectful to the decedent and their family, especially while they were trying to cope with the unexpected death of a loved one,' Dunagan wrote in a letter to the editor of SECO News, claiming that the decedent is 'a friend of mine and to suggest that I neglected my duties [is] absurd and disgusting.'

Still, he noted that he has to respond to about 100 deaths each year and spend about 15 hours investigating each one.

'The chief coroner is on call 24/7, 365 and is expected to respond to all deaths,' Dunagan wrote. '

This does not include the management of the office, training, organizing and scheduling of deputy coroners and other deputies and responsibilities of the office.

'Since taking my post, I have averaged 50 hours a week.'

He concluded his essay by saying he wants to be the 'best coroner in the state of Colorado' but 'I also believe that full-time work deserves full-time pay.'