Everyone has heard of Roe vs. Wade, but have you ever heard of Rowe vs. Regan?

The first, of course, is the Supreme Court's landmark 1973 decision giving constitutional protection to abortion.

The latter is of lesser significance, unless you're a police officer in New York state seeking a disability pension. In Rowe vs. Regan, the Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court ruled that a slip is an accident, even if there is no fall.

The Rowe case, filed by former Nassau police Officer John Rowe against then-State Comptroller Edward Regan as head of the pension system, was one of several court decisions in the mid-1980s that led to a broadening of the legal definition of an accident, opening the gate for more and more disability retirements.

In 1975, Rowe slipped on a wet manhole cover getting out of his patrol car and wrenched his back against the side of the car to avoid a fall. Despite back surgery and 189 days of recovery at home, Rowe remained in pain, according to records in his case.

The retirement system denied Rowe's application for disability retirement, concluding that his slip did not constitute an accident.

But the Nassau PBA's lawyer at the time, Michael Axelrod, pressed the case in the courts. The State Supreme Court's appellate division ruled in 1985 that "slipping on wet pavement constituted a precipitating accidental event, unexpected in nature." The decision, in effect, gave Rowe his disability retirement.

"The Rowe decision found that an individual had an accident if he slipped, even if he didn't fall," said Cynthia Munk, a spokeswoman for the state retirement system.

Rowe, 55, who lives in Southampton, declined to comment on his case. He collects $26,106 a year, tax-free.

State legislation setting up the disability retirement system does not specifically define the word accident. It's "an abstract definition like pornography," said Carle Place lawyer Richard Lerner, who represents many police officers in disability cases. "No one ever really knows what is an accident and what isn't. We have a different view than the comptroller does."

The Rowe decision followed several similar court rulings involving New York City police, who are covered by a separate, yet similar, pension system.

In 1984, in cases involving New York City police Det. Gerard McCambridge and New York City Patrolman Richard Knight, the Court of Appeals ruled that slip-and-falls constituted "accidents" within the city police retirement system.

As McCambridge was getting up from his desk one day in November, 1979, he reached out to steady himself on the shoulder of another officer. The other officer moved away unexpectedly, causing McCambridge to lose his balance, fall to the floor and injure his knee.

Knight was entering his patrol car in April, 1979, when he slipped on wet pavement, fell backward and injured his elbow.

Both were denied disability benefits before taking their cases to court, where Knight was represented by former Nassau and Suffolk PBA lawyer Richard Hartman.