A white Brooklyn firefighter is being investigated for allegedly screaming “you black b**ch” at an EMT while she was helping power outage victims, New York Daily News reports.
According to the publication, a city EMT has lodged a complaint against the firefighter from Engine Co. 290 in Brooklyn, who shouted the racial slur at her Sunday as FDNY teams assisted thousands of residents of Starrett City who were left without power following a blackout.
Officials confirmed that one woman who relied on a respirator died when the power went off. Multiple people suffered minor injuries and six others were pulled from stalled elevators during the tense moment.
One heated call resulted in the white firefighter reportedly growing agitated and yelling at the EMT, “Just do your job, you black b**ch.”
The EMT filed a formal complaint with the department’s EEO office a day later.
A department spokeswoman said Friday in a statement that “A complaint has been filed with the EEO office and an investigation has been opened.”
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As of Friday, the firefighter remained on active duty.
Unfortunately, the New York City Fire Department has a history of firing off racial comments and violence towards their colleagues. As noted by Raw Story, in June, seven firefighters and a lieutenant were suspended without pay for committing a hate crime against a black firefighter inside a bar near Yankee Stadium.
NY Daily News noted that brawl erupted following a day of boozing when a member of Rescue 3 called a firefighter from Engine 68 a “n——r.” Cops were called to the scene and broke up the fight, but didn’t arrest anyone.
Back in April, outraged boiled over in an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn after a firefighter who made anti-Semitic comments on social media was assigned to the community.
“Assigning this man to Borough Park, where you have an incredible number of Holocaust survivors, is an insult to our community,” said State Assembly Member Dov Hikindn in a statement. “I’m not sure he should be anywhere, but certainly not here with the people he said he hates.”