A former firefighter is seeking reinstatement with the Paterson Fire Department after a 2017 arrest.
Kaheem Hunt was initially facing murder charges in connection with a homicide, but the charges were later reduced to hindering.
“I was charged with a crime that I did not commit,” Hunt said at a City Council meeting this week, according to NorthJersey.com. “My only mistake was being in the wrong place at the wrong time."
After completing an intervention program, the third-degree hindering charges against Hunt were dismissed.
Since then, Hunt has worked as an EMT for an ambulance company, but wants to return to his career as a firefighter.
Hunt reached out to Paterson Fire Chief Brian McDermott, Mayor Andre Sayegh and the firefighters union and has not heard back.
He claims the fire department has a “racial divide," adding they do not treat minorities fairly.
“I truly feel if I wasn’t a Black man from the city of Paterson I would have been treated much differently,” he said.
