Mayor Anthony Williams said Thursday he will not cast out his fire chief despite the highly critical Inspector General’s report slamming the fire department’s response to the attack on New York Times reporter David Rosenbaum.
Though he’s “appalled with the way our employees responded to this particular call,” Chief Adrian Thompson has the mayor’s full support, Williams told reporters Thursday.
“When I reviewed the facts and the circumstances of our response that night, I didn’t see a compelling case for firing our Fire Chief Adrian Thompson,” the mayor said. “I continue to have faith in the chief, and I want him to stay in his job to help make our department abetter one.”
That said, Thompson is unlikely to stay on the job past January, as the leading candidates to replace Williams have called for him to resign or be fired.
Rosenbaum was attacked and robbed Jan. 6 while taking a post-dinner walk near his home in Northwest. When the first responders arrived, according to the inspector general, they smelled alcohol and concluded Rosenbaum was intoxicated. From that point, the inspector general said, virtually everything went wrong, including the ambulance ride and Howard University Hospital’s care as well as the police department’s investigation.
The report also found pervasive apathy, indifference and complacency throughout the department.
“We’re going to improve our performance tremendously,” said Thompson, who is only months away from his 36-year department anniversary.
