BOSTON --
Albert Arroyo, Boston's bodybuilding firefighter, appeared before a Boston Fire Department panel on Tuesday arguing that he had been unjustly fired by the city.
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.
"Mr. Arroyo has done absolutely nothing wrong," Arroyo's attorney, Neil Osborne, said. "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 was ordered back to work in July and was given two weeks to comply. After he did not show up, he was fired by the department.
A three-member panel, including Fire Commissioner Roderick Fraser, heard Arroyo's appeal on Tuesday and gave him 48 hours to find a second doctor who agreed that Arroyo is too injured to return to work.
"This is a firefighter who has risked his life since 1986 for this city," Osborne said. "I think he deserves the opportunity to be able to present a second opinion of whether or not a disability exists."
"The fire commissioner has agreed to that request and has granted a 48-hour stay within the proceedings of the committee until additional documentation is presented," Boston Fire Department spokesman Steve MacDonald said.
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