FDNY Union Rep Finds Racist Letter in Locker

Sept. 11, 2017
Keisha Brockington found the threatening letter after trying to help a fellow EMT who denied a racial incident.

An FDNY union representative found a threatening letter in her locker after she tried to help a fellow EMT who got caught up in what he says was not a racist incident.

The Daily News reports that paramedic Keisha Brockington, a 17-year veteran with the department, was shocked on Aug. 29 when she found a hate-filled and threatening racist letter in her locker at FDNY EMS Station 22 on Staten Island.

"You stupid n----- better watch your back, talking all this crap," reads the typewritten letter obtained by the Daily News. "You better watch your back when you start your car up. Nothing better than a dead n-----. Trying to get innocent people fired for a funny prank."

The NYPD's Hate Crimes Task Force has launched an investigation into the matter, and Brockington told the News she has spent the last few weeks fearing for her life -- even starting her car remotely before getting inside.

"I don't think it was serious, but God forbid if it was," Brockington, the station's union rep, told the Daily News. "I fight very hard for members when they're in trouble. And for someone to leave that note, it felt like a stab in the heart."

The troubling series of events began several weeks earlier when an EMT assigned to Station 22 found a noose hanging from the ceiling of an ambulance. The unidentified medic reported the incident to superiors, and newly hired EMT John Thornton immediately admitted to it and said it was a prank directed at a white colleague who had just broken up with a girlfriend.

"He said it was a 'You're screwed, you should go hang yourself' kind of thing," a source familiar with Thornton's thinking told the Daily News.

Word had begun to spread around the station when Thornton, the son of a retired FDNY battalion chief, contacted Brockington to discuss the problem. She then directed him via text to speak with a union vice president because of the serious nature of the matter.

The FDNY later suspended Thornton for 10 days and added six months to his probationary period, and it was roughly three weeks later that Brockington found the letter in her locker.

Brockington reported it to supervisors and went for an interview with the department's Equal Employment Opportunity Office and Bureau of Investigation and Trials. On the advice of her father, a retired police officer, she also reported it to the NYPD.

Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro was so incensed after learning about the letter that he immediately called Police Commissioner James O'Neill directly, according to an FDNY spokesperson.

"The individual responsible for this vile, hateful message not only will be fired -- but belongs in jail," Nigro said in a statement.

The commissioner has subsequently removed Station 22's chief officers and its captain, the spokesperson said.

Brockington, meanwhile, says she has no idea why she would be threatened given she was not directly involved and was only trying to help Thornton.

"I had no involvement whatsoever in the entire process except for the one text message I sent (Thornton)," she told the Daily News. "To me, that letter is a coward move. If you have an issue with someone, you should be able to address it face to face."

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