Fire officials, police, FBI investigate possible racial incident at city station

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Note, rope trigger probes

Fire officials, police, FBI investigate possible racial incident at city

station

By Gus G. Sentementes

Sun reporter

November 22, 2007

A note with racial overtones and a knotted rope found in an East Baltimore

firehouse early yesterday triggered a probe by the city's fire and police

departments, and the FBI has begun its own preliminary investigation into

possible civil rights violations.

The note and the rope were discovered by two Fire Department employees --

one black, one white -- at the Herman Jr. fire station at East 25th

Street and Kirk Avenue. It was the second time in five months that the

station has been hit with racial allegations.

The earlier incident, in May, later proved to be unfounded after fire

officials determined that a decorated deer head mounted on the station wall

was not done with racist intent, fire officials said at the time.

Yesterday, the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement

of Colored People and the Vulcan Blazers -- a group that represents black

city firefighters -- demanded a federal investigation into the rope and

note, while the fire union's president said critics should not jump to

conclusions.

In a written statement, Mayor Sheila Dixon said she was " outraged by this

deplorable act of hatred and intimidation. ... Threats and racial attacks

are unacceptable anywhere -- especially in a firehouse. "

Fire Chief J. Goodwin Jr., who plans to resign at the end of the

year, said fire officials are working closely with city police detectives

who are investigating the case as a possible hate crime.

" It's been pretty obvious during my tenure that this type of incident

wouldn't be tolerated, " Goodwin said. " It's not going to be tolerated now. "

The discovery at the firehouse again threw a beleaguered department into

turmoil over issues of race. In 2004, the department was criticized for

hiring an all-white recruit class, and was pressed to change its testing and

recruiting practices.

The department also is awaiting a report by the city's inspector general,

who investigated allegations that several black firefighters cheated on a

promotion exam. That report is expected to be released next week, a City

Hall spokesman said.

The handwritten note found yesterday reads: " We cant [sic] hang the cheaters

but we can hang the failures. NO EMT-I, NO JOB. " A small stick figure with a

noose and the word " Stop " was drawn below the message.

The note appears to refer to two issues that are sources of tension in the

Fire Department: the cheating investigation begun in July and the push by

top fire officials to compel emergency medical technicians to become

certified as paramedics.

Since most of the calls for service in the city are medical calls, fire

officials say the department now hires only full-fledged paramedics, who are

trained to provide a higher level of care. Goodwin said the department has

about 560 paramedics and 34 emergency medical technicians who still need to

gain paramedic certification. He characterized members of the smaller group

as being " on the bubble " of keeping their jobs.

One of the department employees who found the note yesterday is an emergency

medical technician " in the process of training " to become a paramedic and

the other is a paramedic, Goodwin said.

At a news conference at the Vulcan Blazers' headquarters near Druid Hill

Park, President Henry Burris said his organization would demand a federal

investigation by the Justice Department.

" We know there's been racial issues with the Baltimore City Fire Department,

but this has reached the final level, " Burris said. " Because whoever

perpetrated it, whether they know it or not, this has reached the level of a

federal hate crime. "

An FBI spokesman based in Baltimore said yesterday that the bureau had

opened a preliminary inquiry into possible civil rights violations stemming

from the incident. She declined to comment further on the case.

Marvin L. " Doc " Cheatham, president of the NAACP's Baltimore chapter,

referred to the note as a threat and said it should be treated as such.

" It's got to go federal, " Cheatham said.

ph Armstead, a former firefighter and current vice president of the

local chapter of the NAACP, said a culture of racism has always existed in

the city Fire Department.

" I'm not really shocked or surprised, " said Armstead, a firefighter for 16

years. " It's just getting outward now. And we're not going to tolerate

that. "

Chief Cartwright, a Fire Department spokesman, said the two employees

found the note and the rope about 1:30 a.m. and reported it to a supervisor

at the station house. The supervisor notified a battalion chief.

The battalion chief went to the station house, lined up all of the

employees, questioned them and demanded that each write a report, Cartwright

said.

Baltimore police were called to the scene, said Sterling Clifford, a police

spokesman. Based on the threatening nature of the note, police began a

separate investigation, he said.

Stephan G. Fugate, head of the city's firefighters' union, defended the

firefighters at the station, saying that they were the same ones who had

come under scrutiny for the incident involving the decorated deer head and

the racial allegations that proved to be unfounded.

" They're jumping to conclusions and assuming it was some racially heinous

incident " targeting one of the medical technicians, Fugate said. " I think

everyone needs to back off and let the investigation take its course. "

gus.sentementes@...

Sun reporter Brent contributed to this article.

Copyright C 2007, The Baltimore Sun <http://www.baltimoresun.com/>

E. Bledsoe, DO, FACEP

Midlothian, Texas