PAWTUCKET, R.I. (AP) -- The former East Providence policeman who fatally shot his captain during a training exercise is in line to be hired by the Pawtucket Fire Department.
Joseph Warzycha III is attending fire school next month. If he passes the class, which lasts 10-12 weeks, he will fill one of the eight openings in Pawtucket's 155-member department, said Mayor James Doyle.
He's assured of a place because he placed first in written, physical and oral examinations, Doyle said.
``You look at (the tests), well, this gentleman excelled, he really excelled. From what I see, he should be given the opportunity to work for the city of Pawtucket,'' the mayor said.
Doyle checked with the city's lawyers to make sure Warzycha could be hired. He concluded Warzycha could, since he had no felony convictions. Doyle said Warzycha voluntarily listed the incident when he filled out his application.
Prosecutors said Warzycha shot Capt. Alister McGregor in the back of the head on Dec. 27, 2001, as McGregor led 11 officers through a mock hostage drill aboard a school bus. Warzycha, a sniper, did not clear or check his personal weapon and apparently didn't realize there was a live round in the chamber, prosecutors said.
Warzycha pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter in January 2003.
After the plea deal was announced, Warzycha called his actions ``a mistake'' for which there was no greater punishment than having to live with it.
As part of the plea, he resigned from the East Providence Police Department and was barred from seeking any other law enforcement job.
McGregor, 43, was a 16-year veteran of the department and a former Air Force law-enforcement officer. He was posthumously promoted to major.
Warzycha is a West Point graduate and served in the Marine Corps for six years. He had been with the department for five years and worked as a sniper on the special response team for two years.
Messages left for Pawtucket Fire Chief Tim McLaughlin and at three numbers listed for Joseph Warzycha were not immediately returned.
