Politics
5 Chicago Fire Department Members Broke Rules After Assistant Deputy Chief Was Found Unconscious Behind Wheel: Watchdog
(WTTW News)
Five Chicago Fire Department members failed to follow rules and procedures after discovering an assistant deputy chief apparently passed out in his running car at an intersection in May 2022, according to the city’s watchdog.
Inspector General Deborah Witzburg did not conclude in the report released Wednesday that any of the firefighters, emergency medical technicians and paramedics deliberately covered up for the assistant deputy chief paramedic. Instead, Witzburg’s investigation found the department members offered the deputy chief inappropriate “professional courtesy” that prevented her office from determining whether the assistant deputy chief was drunk behind the wheel.
Witzburg’s report details several instances when the assistant deputy chief paramedic got special treatment after being discovered unconscious behind the wheel at a traffic light on May 29, 2022.
None of the fire department members involved in the incident were identified in the inspector general’s report, in keeping with the city’s rules.
The incident began when five CFD members responded to a 911 call reporting that a man was unconscious and slumped over the wheel of a car while in traffic, according to the watchdog’s report.
The CFD members recognized the assistant deputy chief, and “woke them up,” according to the report.
The highest ranking CFD member on scene, a captain-EMT, canceled a call for an ambulance that had been dispatched and was headed to the scene and then worked with a firefighter/paramedic to move the assistant deputy chief paramedic to the rear seat of their city vehicle, according to the report.
The captain then drove the assistant deputy chief to a nearby fire station, according to the report. As that car pulled away, a Chicago Police Department vehicle arrived on the scene. The firefighter/paramedic told the officers no patient was found at the scene, and the officers left, according to the report.
At the captain’s direction, the firefighter/paramedic created a patient care report that documented “no patient found at scene,” which they signed along with one of two firefighter/EMTs who responded to the 911 call, according to the report.
When the assistant deputy chief arrived at the fire station, where his spouse — also an assistant deputy chief paramedic — was on duty he entered an office and fell asleep in a chair for an hour and a half, according to the report.
When the assistant deputy chief awoke, his spouse drove him home, but did not report what happened to any city authority, according to the report.
During the inspector general’s probe, several CFD members said that the assistant deputy chief paramedic “fell asleep while driving because of a long work shift and was driven back as a ‘professional courtesy’ shown toward certain employees; CFD members also acknowledged that CFD policy may not allow such ‘professional courtesy,’” according to the report from the Office of the Inspector General.
“OIG received information that the assistant deputy chief paramedic was intoxicated at the time of the incident,” according to the report. “Because the assistant deputy chief paramedic was quickly transported away from the scene by the captain-EMT; the dispatched ambulance and police vehicles were waved away; and the captain-EMT, the firefighter/paramedic, and firefighter/EMT ... created a false patient care report, OIG was unable to determine whether the assistant deputy chief paramedic was in fact intoxicated or whether they had operated the vehicle in which they were found while intoxicated.”
During the course of the probe, the assistant deputy chief paramedic retired.
While the inspector general recommended he be placed on the ineligible for rehire list, CFD leaders declined to do so, according to the inspector general, because CFD leaders disagreed “a benefit had been afforded to the assistant deputy chief paramedic. CFD further stated that the assistant deputy chief paramedic was not a patient and there was no evidence that they were intoxicated.”
The inspector general recommended that CFD fire the captain for violating approximately a dozen rules, but CFD leaders declined to do so. Instead, the captain was suspended for six days, according to the report.
The inspector general also recommended that the firefighter/paramedic who signed the report that documented “no patient found at scene” be fired, according to the report. CFD leaders declined to follow that recommendation, instead giving them an oral and written reprimand, according to the report.
The other firefighter/paramedic involved in the incident was given an oral reprimand, while the firefighter retired during the probe. CFD leaders declined to follow the inspector general’s recommendation to place him on the ineligible for rehire list, according to the report.
CFD leaders also rejected the inspector general’s finding that the spouse of the assistant deputy chief paramedic violated department rules, but “provided counseling to them.”
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
