The Austin City Council has agreed to pay Firefighter Kelly Gall an $85,000 settlement fee to end her lawsuit, in which she claims a male supervisor hid a camera in a department dressing room to record her undressing.
The Austin American-Statesman reports that according to court records, Gall returned from a call when she entered the women's restroom and encountered Lt. James Baker leaving. Baker told her he had been getting soap to wash his feet.
While preparing to shower, Gall said she discovered a spy camera on a shelf. Baker later admitted that the camera was his and retired within days of the incident.
In October 2018, surrounded by dozens of firefighters who had come to support Gall, Baker entered a Travis County courtroom and pleaded guilty to a charge of invasive visual recording.
The plea agreement let Baker avoid prison time, but he surrendered his credentials to be a firefighter and EMT.
In 2013, four years before the camera incident, the American-Statesman reports that Baker was the subject of complaints by his colleagues for how he performed medical checks on female patients. In written reports obtained by the American-Statesman, three firefighters said Baker put his hand down women's shirts for no apparent medical reason, including one after a minor traffic collision.
The complaints were routed to the city’s medical director, then Dr. Paul Hinchey, who determined Baker did not violate any standard of medical care.
Council members did not discuss the settlement before taking a vote Thursday. It passed unanimously on consent.
