The Chicago Fire Department has launched an internal investigation after a captain was accused of pushing a Chicago police officer to the ground as both departments answered a rescue call for two men who had fallen into the river near Goose Island earlier this month.
The scuffle apparently did not hinder the rescue, and the two men were pulled from the water at about 1 a.m. Nov. 1 near the 1200 lock of West North Avenue. The police officer, assigned to the marine unit, later filed a report.
No charges were filed, but Fire Department internal affairs investigators are looking into the conduct of the fire captain and other fire officials who were on the scene, officials said.
"There is an active investigation in progress," said Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford. "The investigation will determine what happened at that scene and see if any violations happened with our members."
Sources say the police officer had responded by boat to the call. The officer identified himself as a marine unit officer, and the fire captain allegedly grabbed him by the front of his uniform and threw him to the ground, shouting obscenities and saying the rescue was a Fire Department operation, according to one source.
The police officer reported back to his commander, and the fire captain was taken away from the scene by other fire officials, sources said. The officer has since complained of numbness in his hands.
One source said the fire captain was upset the police officer was not wearing a life preserver and told him to "get out of here."
Langford said he did not know how long the investigation would take because investigators can only interview the firefighters during their working hours.
"It involves several officers and members who were in the incident by the river," Langford said. "The investigation began the day after the incident, when the allegations came to light."
He said investigators are expected to reach out to the police department's Internal Affairs office.
"They will be talking to each other," said Langford.
The investigation comes as the fire department is preparing to move this week or next into the police headquarters in the 3500 block of South Michigan Avenue. Langford said he doesn't believe the incident will raise tensions between the two departments.
"It's a department of command people moving in with command people, we don't foresee a problem with that," Langford said.
Fraternal Order of Police president Michael Shields agreed.
"Chicago police officers and Chicago firemen have one of the greatest working relationships that any big city shares," said Shields. "At 3 in the morning, when we hear the siren racing to the scene of an officer shot, we always know that we're in good hands."
Tribune reporter Jeremy Gorner contributed to this report.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
