May 10-- The trial of two volunteer firefighters who allegedly assaulted one of their peers during a working fire got underway in Prince George's County on Tuesday.
WTOP reports that Christopher Kelly and Jeffrey Miller with the West Lanham Hills Volunteer Fire Department are facing charges of second-degree assault, interfering with a firefighter and misconduct in office stemming from an incident on Dec. 8, 2015.
Firefighters from West Lanham Hills and Landover Hills had both responded to a house fire that day on 75th Avenue in Hyattsville.
Prosecutor Renee Joy's case thus far has detailed a number of procedural protocols allegedly violated by the accused volunteers at the scene.
Landover Hills firefighter Samantha Satterfield testified that Kelly blocked her entry into the home, but her 2015 statement saying she saw Kelly "forcibly remove" Prince George's County Fire/EMS Lt. Katherine Johnson from the home's porch was called into question by the defense after she said Tuesday that it was hazy and dark and she only clearly saw her colleague get up off the ground.
Lt. Johnson also took the stand and said Kelly struck her "two or three times" on the chest, and a picture of bruising on Johnson's chest was submitted as evidence, according to WTOP.
Testimony from both Satterfield and Johnson described Miller arriving to the fire scene in plain clothes and grabbing Johnson's oxygen tank from behind while attempting to pull her away from the porch.
A third Landover Hills firefighter on the scene that day stated he didn't recall what happened, but Joy submitted into evidence an email from the firefighter sent to his union representative after the incident.
The email stated Johnson was thrown off the porch while grabbing the door frame and hand railing trying to "hold on for dear life." It detailed how the third firefighter angrily told Miller that what Miller and his crew did was wrong and that the encounter shouldn't have happened.
The trial is expected to last until Thursday, according to WTOP.
