FIRE BIG BuSTED & AXED
A PLASTERED FDNY pension official was fired Wednesday after plowing his city car onto a busy Manhattan sidewalk — where he was busted for DWI and cocaine possession, cops said.
Steve Cassidy, firefighters union president before his 2016 move to pension fund executive director, was axed while behind bars awaiting a Manhattan Criminal Court appearance.
Witnesses said a clearly cockeyed Cassidy narrowly missed hitting two pedestrians after his FDNY car jumped the curb and slammed into a Dumpster about midnight Tuesday on Seventh Ave. just south of Madison Square Garden.
The wasted driver tried to flee the scene, but a pair of passersby jumped in and held Cassidy for police.
“I had too much to drink,” he told a witness, Assistant District Attorney Steven Harrison said at his arraignment.
The prosecutor said that five witnesses, video, 911 calls and Cassidy’s own statements add up to a “strong case.”
Cassidy also hollered that he wanted to punch someone at the scene in the face, the prosecutor said.
He refused to take a Breathalizer and lied by identifying himself as a fire marshal in an apparent bid to dodge arrest.
His lawyer, James Kilduff, denied his client was drunk and cited his 30 years with the FDNY and his two children as evidence of his character.
“In light of the incident involving Stephen Cassidy and his subsequent arrest, effective immediately, I have removed him from his (pension fund) position,” read a terse statement from Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro. Police recovered a cocainefilled yellow envelope tucked inside Cassidy’s wallet, officials said. Witness Jakob Grabel watched an incoherent Cassidy lurch from his car and collapse to the ground after the accident. He looked “bewildered and out of it,” recalled Grabel, 19. “He got out of the car and tried to walk off, but two good Samaritans stopped him. I called 911. He was mumbling gibberish, not speaking any proper English.” A video shot by Grabel, a student at the nearby Fashion Institute of Technology, showed an unsteady Cassidy, 62, taking nearly 30 seconds to climb into the back of an ambulance. Cassidy told two witnesses on the scene that he was a fire marshal, according to Grabel. A source indicated Cassidy could face additional criminal charges for impersonating an FDNY official.
The ex-head of the Uniformed Firefighters Association also appeared to violate city conflictof-interest laws that bar employees from using government cars for personal business.
The car belonged to the FDNY, and the department would handle any additional disciplinary action in the case.
According to a source, Cassidy is recovering from double knee surgery and took prescription medicine before having a few drinks.
The mix of meds and alcohol may have contributed to his woozy state, the source said.
Judge Althea Drysdale suspended the disgraced union leader’s driver’s license and warned him, “You are not to drive.”
Cassidy pleaded not guilty to reckless and drunken driving, drug possession and other crimes at his arraignment and was released without bail.