When FDNY paramedic Keisha Brockington opened her locker on August 29 she was shocked at what she found. Someone had left a hate filled letter for her.
“You stupid n—– better watch your back, talking all this crap,” read the typed letter.
“You better watch your back when you start your car up. Nothing better than a dead n—–. Trying to get innocent people fired for a funny prank.”
The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force is now investigating and trying to determine who sent the message.
“I don’t think it was serious but God forbid if it was,” said the station’s union rep.
“I fight very hard for members when they’re in trouble,” Brockington said. “And for someone to leave that note, it felt like a stab in the heart.”
It all started last month when an EMT assigned to Brockington’s station found a noose hanging in one of the ambulances. The man who found it reported it to his superiors and EMT John Thornton who was new to the station, admitted he had done it.
According to him, it was a prank meant for a white colleague.
Brockington got a text from Thornton the next morning stating he needed to talk to her. Due to the fact that she knew what it was about and the severity of the incident she directed him to a union vice president.
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Thornton said the noose was meant to be a prank for a co-worker who had broken up with his girlfriend.
“He said it was a ‘You’re screwed, you should go hang yourself kind of thing,” according to a source.
Thornton was suspended for ten days and six months have been added to his probationary period.
It was approximately three weeks after that happened that Brockington found the hate mail in her locker.
“I’m still shocked that someone would do something like that.”
Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro was angry when he heard about the letter and he personally called Police Commissioner James O’Neill.
Nigro is removing Station 22’s chief officers and station captain as well.
“The individual responsible for this vile, hateful message not only will be fired — but belongs in jail,” Nigro stated.
Brockington is confused as to why such anger was directed at her in the first place.
“I had no involvement whatsoever in the entire process except for the one text message I sent (Thornton),” Brockington said.
“To me, that letter is a coward move,” she went on. “If you have an issue with someone, you should be able to address it face to face.”
