New York Firefighter Involved in Firehouse Brawl Said to Suffer From 9/11 Stress

NEW YORK (AP) -- A Staten Island firefighter was suffering from untreated Sept. 11 trauma when he hit a fellow firefighter in the face with a steel chair on New Year's Eve, 2003, his fiancee and a social worker testified Tuesday.

Firefighter Michael Silvestri never received treatment from Fire Department counselors after the terrorist attacks, and was prone to sudden rage, according to testimony during a city hearing.

``He was not the person that he was before Sept. 11,'' fiancee Heather Rasmussen testified, according to the Daily News.

The testimony came during proceedings where the FDNY is working to fire Silvestri for allegedly hitting Firefighter Robert Walsh with a chair in a Staten Island firehouse.

Silvestri will lose his pension if he's fired.

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