Douse the hazing
‘Sex assault’ at FDNY station cited by angry pols
IT’S TIME for the FDNY to end hazing — including sexual assaults — at firehouses across the city, a group of elected officials and firefighters said Thursday.
City Councilman Andy King (D-Bronx) cited the case of probationary hire Gordon Springs, who recently filed a lawsuit alleging he was sexually harassed and discriminated against while being hazed by his firehouse brothers.
“Something is deadly wrong in the FDNY,” King said at a press conference in Brooklyn.
Springs, 27, an African-American who graduated from the Police Academy in May 2015, showed up to work at Ladder Co. 35/Engine Co. 40 near Lincoln Center and was confronted by two naked firefighters in the gym, King said, citing Springs’ lawsuit.
The probie was forced to get on a work out bench while one of the naked firefighters — who was white — plopped his genitalia on Springs’ forehead, his suit alleged. And the hazing continued for months until Springs finally reported it, the lawsuit said.
“This is not hazing, this is sexual harassment, sexual assault,” King railed.
He said the FDNY should fire those who engage in hazing and take away their pensions.
“Hazing is prohibited conduct, and the department will seriously investigate and discipline anyone who engages in or allows hazing of any employee,” fire officials said in a statement.
Sources told the Daily News that seven firefighters involved in the Springs incident were hit with fines ranging from $1,000 to $10,000. They were also placed on probation and could be fired for future misconduct. A senior fire officer was relieved of his command and two firefighters were transferred.
Springs’ lawyer, Paul Liggieri, said his client was a firehouse “pariah” after he complained.
Regina Wilson, president of the Vulcan Society, an association of black firefighters that successfully sued the FDNY and the city for racial discrimination in its hiring practices, said hazing is a common occurrence for probies.
“You have to conform, assimilate, lose who you are,” she said of the firehouse culture.
Sarinya Srisakul, president of the United Womens Firefighters, said smoke-eaters who speak up — either in their own defense or for a colleague — face retaliation.
“You do get a scarlet letter. Every step of the way (there are) brick walls,” Srisakul said.
As the officials and firefighter groups were speaking to press outside the courthouse, Vulcan and city lawyers were meeting with Brooklyn federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis, who is overseeing proceedings on the settled discrimination case.
City lawyers had filed a strongly-worded letter accusing the Vulcans and their lawyers of a lack of good faith in their recruitment efforts — but Garaufis wasn’t impressed with the argument. He made it clear in the hearing that the FDNY needs to implement a more aggressive equal employment opportunity policy and step up enforcement.
Garaufis referenced the Springs case and said the FDNY is owned by city taxpayers — the majority of whom are people of color — and not the members of the department. If necessary, Garaufis said, he’d hold a hearing on a racial discrimination in the department and sanctions could follow.