A New York City councilman is asking that an independent probe be conducted concerning the allegations of abusive behavior by the FDNY's top chief, who's currently suspended.
Councilman Ritchie Torres, the chairman of the city council's oversight and investigations committee, made a request earlier this week to look into the days leading up to the suspension of Chief of Department James Leonard, the New York Daily News reports. Leonard was relieved of his command and placed on administrative duty last week following accusations of verbally abusing and humiliating those under him in the department.
The suspension came days after a Daily News report that alleged that Leonard was clashing with many in the FDNY, including First Deputy Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh, one of the few high-ranking women in the department.
RELATED: FDNY Chief, Top Woman in Power Struggle
Although the city's Law Department was tasked with investigating Leonard, Torres wants that probe in the hands of the Department of Investigations, the Daily News reports. He says the city's charter demands that type of independent investigatory body, a role the Law Department would not be able to fulfill.
"Unlike DOI, whose commissioner is confirmed by the City Council and whose reports are reviewed by the public, the Law Department has neither independence from the mayor nor reporting obligations to the public," Torres wrote in his request for a DOI probe, according to the Daily News. "A city employee who has been accused by mayoral officials of abusing his power has a right to be investigated by an agency independent of the mayor."
RELATED: FDNY Chief Relieved of Duty Pending Probe
The councilman also would like any investigation to examine how long Leonard's alleged abusive behavior had been going on.
