Five Denver firefighters received some harsh discipline for their behavior at a bar this past summer, earning varying suspensions without pay in the wake of a retirement party that got out of hand.
CBS4 reports that the firefighters entered the city's Central Market on Larimer Street one morning in July and brought their own liquor inside the establishment just after 9 a.m. When the firefighters were asked to leave, they refused and instead taunted and insulted the business owner, who filed a formal complaint and shared with the Denver Fire Department surveillance footage that captured the incident.
"They were very loud and vulgar, to the point of causing other patrons to become uneasy," Stuart Jensen, co-owner of the Curio bar inside Central Market, wrote in his complaint.
Jensen said he politely asked the men to stop drinking or they would have to leave, but that only escalated the situation. Jensen then called police, but before they arrived, another group of six firefighters in uniform joined the first group, laughed off the situation and made it clear they had no intention of leaving.
"It was shocking," Jensen told CBS4 in July.
The firefighters eventually left while "hollering insults," Jensen says.
As a result of the complaint and a review of the incident, Lt. Todd Revious was suspended 42 days without pay and Lt. Jeremy Young 30 days without pay. Both could face demotion if they have any more disciplinary problems.
Engineers Thomas Calabrese and Raymond Mix, and firefighter Karl Larsen were also suspended but for shorter periods.
"As a bar owner, we are in constant fear of violating our liquor license," said Jensen. "There are undercover stings and severe consequences that result from us violating our terms in any way. The fact that a group of government employees would come into my business and behave in a manner that clearly violates those terms, and then insult us when we try to take recourse, is unacceptable."
