FIREHAZE PRANK
Lincoln Center crew slapped
Seven Midtown firefighters have been disciplined for violating the FDNY’s “zero tolerance” hazing policy, The Post has learned.
Five firefighters and two officers at Engine 40-Ladder 35 near Lincoln Center — a firehouse that goes by the nickname “The Cavemen” — allegedly ridiculed an AfricanAmerican member, sources said.
The FDNY refused to name the firefighters being disciplined or explain specifically what they did, but one insider said the incident involved a prank in which “they put the guy’s locker in the bathroom.”
The offending Bravest were slapped with stiff penalties — a loss of three to 30 days pay and 15 vacation days, an internal department order announced Thursday.
All seven accepted the punishments to avoid facing charges in administrative trials that could lead to their firing, the FDNY said.
It’s the first known case in which firefighters have been disciplined for hazing since May 2013, when then-Fire Commissioner Sal Cas- sano ordered a strict new policy.
Cassano issued the protocol at the same time rookie Baraka Smith filed a $2.5 million suit claiming he choked a fellow firefighter in self-defense after a hazing attack in the locker room his first day on the job.
Smith accused the other firefighter of making lewd comments, grabbing him from behind and touching his private parts. A Brooklyn federal judge dismissed the suit in January, but Baraka is appealing, said his lawyer, Pamela Hayes.
“I think that’s good. They didn’t do this in our case,” Hayes said of the recent hazing discipline.
The FDNY policy prohibits any form of initiation that causes, or involves the potential for, physical injury or “personal humiliation,” or anything to demean a member.
In the recent case, the sources said the mistreatment was minimal — and the discipline draconian.
The FDNY declined to comment.
“This is all bulls--t,” one insider charged. “There’s a culture in the firehouse when you’re a new guy. Somebody’s feelings get hurt and all of a sudden it’s hazing.”
Another agreed: “Today hazing could be anything, a disparaging remark — being called a ‘Johnny,’ ” — slang for an inexperienced firefighter.