D.C. Fire Chief Adrian H. Thompson, who has been taking plenty of heat for the department’s response in the fatal mugging of a New York Times reporter, has brought administrative charges against six firefighters that could lead to their firing, a government source has told The Examiner.
Four of the firefighters were involved in the Jan. 6 call in which emergency teams mistakenly thought veteran journalist David Rosenbaum was drunk when they found him near his Gramercy Street NW home. Investigators learned later that the 63-year-old Rosenbaum had been beaten. He died two days afterward.
Thompson also wants to dismiss two firefighters who allegedly were found asleep in an ambulance parked near Alice Deal Junior High School, the source said. The firefighters were discovered after they missed a call of a woman with difficulty breathing in the 4200 block of Butterworth Place NW.
D.C. fire spokesman Alan Etter could not confirm the charges because they involve personnel matters. But he said that Thompson would be making many changes.
Thompson, who has been fire chief since 2002, appears to be moving aggressively since the Office of the Inspector General’s report on Rosenbaum’s death was released last month. D.C. council members called for Thompson’s dismissal, but MayorAnthony Williams said that Thompson will stay on to help fix the department’s medical services.
Firefighters who responded to the Rosenbaum case — Reginald Chandler, Anthony Fields, Michael Roy and Frelimo Simba — will go before the department’s trial board where they could face termination. Thompson wants them out, the source said.
The firefighters could not be reached Tuesday.
Thompson also wants to rid the department of the two firefighters caught napping in the ambulance. It’s unclear why the firefighters slept in the ambulance when they could have napped in the firehouse where other firefighters are on watch.
In June, Thompson began dismissal proceedings against the ambulance driver in the Rosenbaum call, Selena Walker.
