Category: In The News

April 18, 2023 Sacramento Firefighter Timothy J. Keyes refuses to lift heavy patients saying: “…I prefer to let him die today if necessary.”

By Theresa Clift Source The Sacramento Bee (TNS) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

A Sacramento firefighter in 2020 posted to Facebook that he has “killed” people by refusing to lift them when they are overweight. He remains a firefighter for the Sacramento Fire Department.

The Facebook post by Timothy John Keyes resulted in a five-shift unpaid suspension, according to a disciplinary letter The Sacramento Bee obtained from a California Public Records Act request. His annual compensation is $125,684.

“I have killed more people in this way than in any other: Presented with a person far too heavy to lift safely, a person dying of any overworked heart (congestive heart failure) and KNOWING ‘better,’ I will opt to NOT have my crew lift him,” Keyes wrote on Facebook, according to the March 10, 2021, disciplinary letter.

Keyes’s post also said lifting heavy individuals risks minor or significant injury to a paramedic, so Keyes has the person suffering a medical event walk a short distance, possibly down stairs, to the gurney.

He acknowledged that having the person walk rather than be carried can prove fatal.

“The heart, already overtaxed while sitting, leading to the 911 call du jour, cannot support these steps,” he wrote.

Keyes wrote he has been disappointed in medics he has trained who “fail to understand why” he tells his crew not to lift the patient when the patient died trying to walk.

“I am not willing to give our health for him. He has asked for this, DEMANDED it for decades! Why should we ruin a loved one’s back for him to keep him alive a bit longer? He will still die, sooner or later. Why give me or my Brother’s back for him when he never bothered to care for himself? I prefer to let him die today if necessary.”

When investigators asked Keyes about the post, he confirmed he had written it, the letter states.

Keyes did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment, but he did talk to investigators about his post.

“I said something I shouldn’t have said, and I wish I hadn’t. I tried to take it back. It was too late,” Keyes told investigators, the letter states. “I had already said it … I messed up.”

The city disciplined Keyes with a 240-hour suspension, but allowed him to use vacation time to cover half of it. He was suspended for five shifts, totaling 120 hours, in March and April 2021.

Keyes violated the city’s Equal Employment Opportunity Policy when he engaged in inappropriate conduct based on gender/sex and medical condition, the letter states.

The city’s Equal Employment Opportunity Policy is in place to ensure that employees’ work environments are free from harassment and discrimination. The policy outlines various classifications that are protected, such as disability, gender, sex and medical condition.

When asked about this disciplinary issue, city spokesman Tim Swanson said, “The City of Sacramento does not comment on individual personnel matters, but it’s worth noting that the City and the Sacramento County Emergency Medical Services Agency (SCEMSA) require Firefighters/Paramedics or EMTs to treat all patients with the required standard of care, regardless of gender, weight, or any other distinguishing characteristic.”

Sexual post also on Facebook

Investigators also found another “offensive” post on Keyes’ Facebook — a photo depicting a female providing first aid to a male, the letter states. It read, “CPR INSTRUCTIONS: CHECK TO SEE IF NIPPLES ARE HARD if not rub forehead until proper nipple tension is achieved; KISS SENSUALLY the victim is unconscious. Now’s your chance!”

The post, included in the reason for the suspension, was another violation of the city’s EEO policy, the letter states. When investigators asked Keyes why he posted that photo, he said “because it was ridiculous,” the letter states.

During the interviews in September 2020, Keyes acknowledged his Facebook identified him as a fire department employee, and included photos posted in his uniform. He said he could have more than 100 Facebook friends who also work for the city.

“These posts reflect negatively on the Fire Department and the city,” the letter states. “Your position as a firefighter/paramedic places you in a position of public trust and you are held to a higher standard than most other public employees. Publicly acknowledging that you have killed and will not treat fat people and that you view females as sexual objects violates that public trust and brings discredit to the city.”

Keyes had previously received a written reprimand in July 2020 for allowing his “advanced cardiac life support” certification to lapse, the letter states.

The city has given unpaid suspensions to other firefighters in recent years. In July 2019 a group of Sacramento firefighters spray painted the inside of a city water tank, causing “floating debris” and damage that cost taxpayers over $65,000. As punishment, two of them received a two-day unpaid suspension. Last year, firefighter Rocco Davalos was given an unpaid two-day suspension in August after he used a racial slur during a dinner at a fire station, a disciplinary letter states.

April 17, 2023 The Palm Beach County firefighter’s stolen vehicle had an Apple MacBook Air in it which led police to track down a drove of evidence.

By Charles Rabin Source Miami Herald (TNS) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

A Palm Beach County firefighter woke up Saturday morning and discovered his vehicle had been stolen. But something he left in the car led police to a trove of stolen and illegal accessories — and what they hope is break-up of a vehicle theft ring.

Besides his gear, the first responder had left an Apple MacBook Air in the vehicle. When he pinged it on another electronic device, it showed it was at a home in the 9800 block of Southwest 80th Dr., in Kendall.

Police quickly got a warrant signed by a judge and before 6 p.m. that night visited the home. Inside, according to police: two motorcycles with altered vehicle identification numbers, two signal-jamming devices, four license plates belonging to stolen vehicles, a gun and cartridges and 58 refurbished key fobs from a Mercedes-Benz, a Dodge Ram, a Jeep and other cars.

All three people arrested were charged with third-degree grand theft conspiracy. There also were individual charges.

Christian David DaSilva, 18, has been charged with altering VINs, making counterfeit VINs and petit theft. Ivon Carlos Sifonte, 18, has been charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, defacing and altering VINs. And Alyssa Taylor MacFarlane, 23, is facing counts of altering VINs and petit theft. All three remained in jail on Monday and it was not clear if they had retained defense attorneys.

April 17, 2023 Asst. Chief Thomas Currao is outraged by remarks from First Deputy Commissioner Joseph Pfeifer.

By Thomas Tracy Source New York Daily News (TNS) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

NEW YORK — Another FDNY chief has asked to be demoted as the department continues to quake from the ongoing clash between Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh and the department’s top brass, sources told The New York Daily News.

Assistant Chief Thomas Currao sent a letter asking for a demotion and to be put back in the field earlier this week, sources with knowledge of the case said.

Currao was apparently outraged of the flippant way newly minted First Deputy Commissioner Joseph Pfeifer dismissed concerns by staff chiefs who feel they’re being ignored by Kavanagh and her team in a recent New York Times column, said the sources.

Pfeifer said in the interview that the chiefs’ demotion requests “lessened their authority in the field.” He also said he didn’t see how the chiefs could be part of the FDNY going forward.

“They can’t go out on their own and make their own rules,” Pfeifer said, adding that if chiefs could ask to be demoted “why not an entire firehouse says, I want to be transferred.”

Pfeifer also said the FDNY has a deep bench to replace the dissatisfied chiefs.

“There’s a lot of very experienced people in the field that we can bring up, that may even have more experience than some of the people that want to self-demote,” he said.

Currao, who sources said had been trying to mend relations between Kavanagh and the chiefs who dislike her, felt that Pfeifer had “stabbed him in the back.”

He is the 10th staff chief who has either been demoted by Kavanagh or had asked to be lowered in rank to deputy chief, sources said.

There are 23 staff chiefs in the entire FDNY, including several on medical leave. Between those who have been demoted and those out on medical leave, there are only seven active staff chiefs citywide, a source with knowledge of the situation said.

Kavanagh hasn’t signed off on any of the demotion requests. She’s asked the chiefs to hang on for three more months.

The turmoil in the department’s upper ranks came into full view in February after the Daily News broke a story about how two top uniformed FDNY officials stepped down to protest Kavanagh demoting three other chiefs.

The three assistant chiefs Kavanagh demoted — Michael Gala, Joseph Jardin and Fred Schaaf — were lowered in rank after Kavanagh complained they hadn’t given brought her any new ideas.

She was said to have wanted “out-of-the-box thinking” from the chiefs, but was peppered with requests about overtime and department-issued take-home cars, according to a recording of the gathering shared with the Daily News.

Kavanagh’s decisions have received the full support of Mayor Eric Adams, who selected her for the post in October.

“We knew from the onset that Commissioner Kavanagh was coming in, she was changing a culture that she felt she should have changed, and she wanted those high-ranking individuals to be responsive to her mission moving forward. And that’s what she did,” Adams said on 1010 WINS last month.

The demoted chiefs are currently suing the department, accusing Kavanagh of ageism. At 40, Kavanagh, the city’s first woman fire commissioner, is also one of the city’s youngest commissioners.

“City Hall has its head buried in the sand,” said attorney Jim Walden, who is representing the angry chiefs. “The situation at the FDNY is further devolving. If the mayor refuses to act, he’ll own the consequences.”

FDNY spokeswoman Amanda Farinacci said despite the turmoil among the top chiefs, the Fire Department is ready to handle any emergency.

“Under Commissioner Kavanagh’s leadership, the FDNY remains fully ready to respond to New Yorkers who call 911 for help,” Farinacci said. “While we don’t comment on personnel matters, the department is fully staffed.”

April 15, 2023 Abbott firefighter Horace Dan Wright was struck by a fire apparatus just five miles from where a West firefighter was struck on Interstate 35 in recent weeks.

Source Firehouse.com News

An Abbott firefighter was struck and killed while serving as a spotter along Interstate 35 Friday night. The incident occurred less than a month after a West firefighter died after being struck just five miles away.

Abbott firefighters were called to an accident around mile marker 359 about 7:15 p.m. 

“As they arrived, it was determined that it was actually a stranded motorist and they opted to stay on scene to assist with traffic control until a wrecker arrived,” the Hill County Sheriff’s office told KWTX. Crews decided to reposition the apparatus since it was not a crash.

Firefighter Horace Dan Wright was killed when he was “backed into by the firetruck” near mile marker 359.

Crews treated Wright at the scene and he was rushed to Baylor Scott & White Hillcrest hospital in Waco. He was pronounced a short time later, officials said. 

“Immediately, life saving measures were started and additional emergency services were summoned to the scene,” the statement from sheriff’s said.

“You’d think going into a burning building is dangerous. Working I-35 is a whole lot more dangerous,” West Mayor Tommy Muska told KWTX.com last month when West firefighter Edward Hykel was killed after he and two police officers were struck mile marker 354 on March 28. “People don’t take their time, people don’t respect a fire engine straddling the road.”

Hykel, 60, was injured in the April 17, 2013 explosion at the West Fertilizer plant. 

The tragic incident Friday comes just three days before the 10th anniversary of the explosion that killed 12 firefighters and EMT in the small town of West – about 90 miles south of Dallas.

Two Abbott firefighters — Jerry D. Chapman and Cyrus A. Reed — were among the 12 killed in the explosion. 

April 14, 2023 A private company under contract with the FDNY inspects the system every five years.

By Denis Slattery, Graham Rayman Source New York Daily News (TNS) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

A Rikers Island fire safety system that failed in a blaze that badly burned two detainees and left a dozen other inmates and correction staff with smoke inhalation was last inspected in November 2021, records obtained by the Daily News show.

A private company under contract with FDNY and fire safety inspectors tested and passed the sprinkler system as functional at the North Infirmary Command. An FDNY spokesperson said the system was on a five-year inspection cycle — meaning it was due for its next check in November 2026.

But the sprinkler and strobe-alarm system failed in the April 6 blaze, and there were issues with the Correction Department emergency response.

It is unclear what happened with the sprinkler system in the 17 months that passed between its inspection and the fire. The Correction Department, which is responsible for maintaining the system, did not respond to requests for comment.

FDNY spokeswoman Amanda Farinacci said Friday an investigation into the fire continues.

The fire began after correction officers conducted at least one search the morning of April 6 and confiscated personal possession of detainees held in North Infirmary Command Unit 2A, where some high-security detainees are held in an area that also includes tiny fenced enclosures. Detainees call the area “the kennel.”

The search took place after the Correction Department learned nine state legislators were arriving to do a surprise inspection of the jails, and at least one intended to visit the North Infirmary Command.

A detainee started the fire by setting his mattress ablaze at about 1:30 p.m.

MK Kaishian, a lawyer, said a client in the unit told her the sprinkler system “hissed once” and fell silent. The smoke grew so thick and the emergency response was so delayed that detainees were flushing their toilets to get air.

A correction officer appeared with a fire extinguisher, but was unable to extinguish the flames. It finally took FDNY firefighters with a hose to put out the blaze about 2:13 p.m.

In the aftermath of the fire, the detainees housed in Unit 2A were moved to Unit 2B in the same jail — where, instead of being given access to toilets, they were given bags to defecate in, Kaishian said.

After less than 24 hours, and without any apparent clean-up, the detainees were returned to the fire- and smoke-scarred unit 2A, said Kaishian and an inmate who wrote a complaint to a public defenders organization.

That detainee, whose name is being withheld by The News and is represented by a different lawyer, begged for a transfer because of the post-fire conditions in the unit.

Smoke debris was not cleared out, no repairs had been made, “toxic” fumes remain, and the cells were not power washed and remain covered in black soot, according to the complaint. The detainee complained detainees are coughing, spitting up black saliva, and have vomited.

Fires are not uncommon in the jails, especially higher security units. On Nov. 5, 2021, a detainee set a fire in Unit 2B at North Infirmary Command amid a conflict with a correction officer, an internal Correction Department report on the blaze indicates.

That officer left his post. Other officers tried to put out the blaze with a fire extinguisher, but it was ineffective, and the Fire Department was called to extinguish the fire, the report indicates.

A correction captain was suspended for failing to fill the post of the officer who departed, the report says.

That last FDNY inspection took place eight days later on Nov. 13, 2021.

Meanwhile, on Friday, state Sen. Latrice Walker (D- Brooklyn) tied the Board of Correction April 12 report on seven jail deaths in 2022 to her sharp opposition to changes to the bail reform law pushed by Gov. Hochul.

The report detailed a range of breakdowns that contributed to the deaths, including unstaffed posts, slow emergency response, missed medical visits, and pre-trial detentions of more than a year and echoed conclusions in two prior death reports.

Walker has been on a hunger strike since April 9 — Easter Sunday — to protest jail conditions and Hochul’s proposal, which would remove language requiring judges to use the “least restrictive means possible” to ensure someone returns to court.

“It is for the people in this report and others who died in the jails across the state that I am on a hunger strike. This report adds to the mountain of evidence of how racist, brutal, and deadly our pre-trial jail system is,” Walker said in a statement.

“No one could in good conscience read this report and then adopt changes to the bail laws that will send more people to these deadly jails.”

Sixteen people died in the city jails in 2021, and another 19 in 2022. One person has died so far in 2023.