A city morgue worker has proven you can’t get anything done in this town without a tip — including moving dead bodies.
He didn’t exactly make a killing, but mortuary technician Lawrence Walker admitted taking cold hard cash to help move the stiffs for funeral directors to their hearses.
In a filing made public Wednesday, Walker was fined $1,500 after admitting to accepting paltry payments for his services.
“I have accepted tips of approximately $5 each from funeral directors after assisting them to transfer decedents into the funeral director’s vehicle,” Walker said in a disposition to the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board.
“It is within my discretion to assist funeral directors with the transfer of decedents to their vehicles, and I regularly do so. I have been instructed not to accept tips from funeral directors in return for providing such assistance.”
According to the City Charter, no public servant can accept compensation or gratuity while performing official duties.
Walker has worked for the city since 2002 and makes roughly $90,000 a year, including overtime.
But despite his salary, the morgue man accepted the tips 10 times last year — bringing his side hustle haul to a grand total of about $50.
The disposition said the Medical Examiner’s Office and the COIB “have determined that the appropriate penalty is a fine of $1,500 to resolve both this matter and unrelated disciplinary infractions.”
Walker agreed to have the fine deducted from future paychecks.
The city said in a statement that employees of the ME’s Office have been warned that they’d be dead ducks if they’re caught taking tips.
“Since 2014, OCME has made it clear that this behavior will not be tolerated,” a City Hall spokesperson said. “All OCME employees suspected of or seen accepting tips will be referred to DOI [the Department of Investigation].”
A picture on Walker’s Facebook page shows him sporting a large tattoo on his back that depicts him working on a body in the morgue.
“Thats me doin’ my thing,” Walker wrote next to the image. “Its definitely not for the weak stomached but its a living . . . 5 years . . . everyday is an exciting experience.”
Walker also posted macabre images of his workplace with captions like “cutting room” and “Hall of Death??”
In another Facebook post, Walker put up an image of a fish that he claimed “dropped outta a guys pants that we pulled outta the hudson.”
He added, “That was truly a first for me . . . I’ve seen crabs of all sizes, snails, and even clams but never a fish.”
Additional reporting by Alex Taylor