Heat’s on firehouse
DOI probing Muslimm Bravest’s bully claims s
The city Department of Investigation has taken over a probe into a Muslim firefighter’s claims that he was bullied and harassed at his Brooklyn firehouse, The Post has learned.
The fate of at least two captains, four lieutenants and two firefighters at Engine 309/Ladder 159 in Flatlands remains under a cloud due to the allegations. All have been transferred.
The DOI, which was already looking into a possible “culture of hazing” at the FDNY after a series of Post exposés, has instructed the FDNY’s Bureau of Investigations and Trials to halt its internal probe of the Brooklyn firehouse case, sources said.
The development is significant because DOI probes often result in criminal charges filed by a district attorney.
The Muslim firefighter, Raheem Hassan, 30, had been tormented by fellow firefighters since the summer of 2015, a person close to the case told The Post.
Hassan claimed his colleagues served him pasta sauce spiked with pork and cooked his food in bacon grease — meats his religion forbids him to eat.
The source alleged some colleagues humiliated Hassan as he slept, taking photos of their genitals next to his face and sharing them in text messages.
“There was always tension. He didn’t make waves, but when they started playing with his food, he complained about it to the powers that be,” the insider said.
“And then the retaliation intensified. He was branded a rat and shunned in group activities,” such as watching TV, lifting weights and joining in dinner.
For Hassan, the station, dubbed “The Friendly Firehouse,” became a house of horrors, where firefighters created a “toxic environment,” the source said.
“They were very antagonistic,” the source said. “They would put transferrequest papers in his boots, in his locker and in his equipment.”
During food shopping, some colleagues refused Hassan’s request forr chicken, saying that “itt was $1 more than pork.”.”
The hostility gotot physical, with “severalveral fights” erupting betweenween Hassan and other firefight-fighters, the source said.
The bad blood boiledd over on Dec. 20, when ann off-off duty Hassan called his supervisor, Lt. David Hughes.
Afterward, Hughes called police and claimed Hassan had told him, “I’m going to kill the guys in the firehouse,” according to a criminal complaint.
The firehouse was briefly shut down that day, sources said.
Hassan was arrested on Dec. 27 on Staten Island, where he made the call, and charged with misdemeanor aggravated harassment.
Interviewed by a detective, Hassan described his statements differently.
“All I did was call my fire officer and tell him I wanted to hurt myself and the people who are hurting me,” he said, according to records.
The criminal case against Hassan ended quietly Wednesday during a brief proceeding in Staten Island Criminal Court.
The Staten Island District Attorney’s Office granted him an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal in which the charge will be dropped and the case sealed in six months if he stays out of trouble and continues counseling.
Hassan, who is in the Navy Reserve, wore his military uniform to court.
His attorney, Aymen Aboushi, told The Post that his client “never threatened to blow up or kill anyone” and that the charges were “part and parcel of unlawful conduct visited upon him.”
The FDNY did not suspend Hassan but removed him from the firehouse.
“He is a serviceman and just wants to do his job and serve his city like he served his country,” Aboushi said.
Hassan was an FDNY medic before joining the firefighter ranks in 2013.
Jake Lemonda, president of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association, had no comment but has said previously that his members were not disciplined and were removed only “to expedite the investigation.”
The new DOI probe comes nearly a year after the FDNY overhauled its anti-hazing policy following a series of Post stories detailing alleged sexual abuse and bullying in firehouses.