NEW YORK (AP) -- A firefighter critically hurt on New Year's Eve when he was hit in the face with a steel chair on Monday sued the city for $100 million, saying his colleagues worked harder to conceal their use of alcohol than to save his life.
Firefighter Robert Walsh, a resident of Hazlet, N.J., portrayed the Staten Island firehouse where he worked as a place where alcohol flowed freely and the bosses not only knew it but sometimes paid for it and drank it themselves.
That environment set the stage for firefighter Michael Silvestri to create his own ``sangria'' mix in a large pot in the firehouse kitchen, get drunk, get angry and smash Walsh over the head when he got angry at something Walsh said, the suit alleged.
Walsh suffered a broken jaw, a broken nose along with brain and spinal injuries when Silvestri allegedly hit him in the face with a steel chair.
Afterwards, fellow firefighters declined to summon an ambulance, treat his injuries or notify police as part of a coverup of the use of alcohol, Walsh said.
Kate O'Brien Ahlers, a city law office spokeswoman, said the city had no immediate comment.
Walsh said the night of his injuries began when then-Capt. Terrence Sweeney gave him money to buy 30 cans of beer at a nearby market to reward the firefighters for a job well done during a fire run earlier.
Walsh said in the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan that Sweeney many times before had allowed the consumption of alcohol on firehouse grounds and on many occasions had consumed beer there himself.
The captain and two lieutenants at the firehouse permitted the alcohol in cups to camouflage the drink even though they knew fire department regulations banned the consumption of alcohol by firefighters in uniform or on duty, he said.
All 50 members of the firehouse have been reassigned to other companies. Sweeney was demoted, forced to retire and ordered to pay a fine of $90,000.
Some of Walsh's harshest criticisms were directed at the response of Sweeney and his firefighting colleagues once they saw blood spilling from his head.
He said Sweeney and other senior officers ordered a cleanup of the alcohol and blood as Sweeney created a false account of the injury to suggest it resulted from a fall down the firehouse stairs rather than from an assault.
Walsh also alleged that fellow firefighters trained to treat him were advised not to while the hospital was not told that he was on the way, preventing its trauma unit from preparing for a serious injury.
Only after hospital workers told Sweeney that the true cause of Walsh's injuries would help his treatment did the captain reveal the truth, Walsh said in the lawsuit.
Walsh called Sweeney and others ``accessories'' to the assault, saying they ``intentionally, recklessly and knowingly disposed of and tampered with evidence, gave false statements to investigators and hospital personnel, made false entries in official logs and records and otherwise acted in a manner to hinder discovery and prosecution of the criminal conduct of defendant Silvestri.''
Silvestri, who has been suspended and assigned to restricted duties, has pleaded innocent to assault and other charges.
Related:
- Two Lieutenants Penalized In New Year's Eve Brawl
- Firehouse Brawl: Post 9/11 Stress?
- Beaten Staten Island Firefighter to Sue
- Report: Drinking Already Rampant at S.I. Firehouse Before New Year's Brawl
- Four More Suspended in Brawl at Staten Island Firehouse
- Report: NYC Firefighters Lied About Fight
- Details of FDNY Brawl Indictment Revealed
- NYC Firefighter Indicted Over New Year's Brawl
- Staten Island Firehouse Polishing It's Image
