BOSTON --
Albert Arroyo, Boston's bodybuilding firefighter, will not be reinstated with the department, fire officials said Thursday.
NewsCenter 5's Mary Saladna reported that a Boston Fire Department panel made the decision not to reinstate Arroyo on Thursday after considering a second doctor's opinion about his condition.
On Tuesday, Arroyo appeared before a three-member panel, which included Fire Commissioner Roderick Fraser, to argue he was unjustly fired by the city and was given 48 hours to submit the second opinion.
"In fairness to Albert Arroyo, the commissioner wanted give him the 48 hours to produce additional documents that he thought would benefit his case. The commissioner and the panel did review them, but the commissioner did not change his mind. Albert Arroyo is not a member of the Boston Fire Department," said Boston Fire Department spokesman Steve MacDonald.
Arroyo failed to return to work after he was ordered back on the job when a video surfaced of him competing in a bodybuilding competition just six weeks after he said he could not work as an inspector because of injuries he sustained in a fall at a fire station.
Arroyo was ordered back to work in July and was given two weeks to comply. When he did not show up, he was fired.
"Mr. Arroyo has done absolutely nothing wrong," Arroyo's attorney, Neil Osborne, said on Tuesday. "Based on being seen in a bodybuilding video, that he has somehow committed some fraud regarding his disability. Nothing could be further from the truth."
Arroyo can appeal the department's decision to the state's Civil Service Commission.
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