nothin Egan’s Critics Press Fire Commission | New Haven Independent

Egan’s Critics Press Fire Commission

Paul Bass Photos

NAACP’s Dumas addresses commissioners Tuesday.

Morrison: “We will investigate.”

Embattled Assistant Fire Chief Pat Egan wasn’t physically present at the monthly meeting of the Board of Fire Commissioners, but his presence pervaded the room.

The commissioners began Tuesday considering a week after Wright placed Egan on indefinite paid leave of absence in the wake of charges that Egan improperly placed firefighters’ lives in dangers at the scene of the Aug. 25 Delaney’s fire and that he improperly handled the case of a black firefighter convicted of attempted bribery of a witness.

The commissioners didn’t consider the Egan matter in public at the Tuesday afternoon meeting on the third floor of fire headquarters on Grand Avenue. After a brief executive session, Chairman Rev. Eldren Morrison told the Independent the commission will proceed with an internal investigation of Egan the way it would handle any request for dismissal.

Meanwhile, the commission heard pleas during the public portion of the meeting for a separate independent investigation of alleged discriminatory behavior by Egan. The pleas came from leaders of the Greater New Haven NAACP, the New Haven Firebirds (which represents black firefighters), and the Greater New Haven Clergy Association.

Those complaints centered on Egan’s handling of his own investigation into the case of Firefighter Aaron Brantley, whom the commissioners fired in June after a judge found him guilty of attempted bribery. Speakers addressing the commission Tuesday afternoon alleged that Brantley, who is African-American, wouldn’t be facing a jail sentence if not for alleged discriminatory actions by Egan, who is white. (Egan, pictured) has not been speaking to the press since last week’s suspension.)

The NAACP is being flooded with complaints,” Greater New Haven NAACP Chair Doris Dumas told the commissioners. We don’t feel like Aaron Brantley received justice or fair treatment.” She said the NAACP voted last week to seek an independent investigation by the Fire Commission.

This man has put fellow firefighters, our brothers and sisters, in jeopardy in the [Delaney’s] fire on Whalley Avenue,” remarked the Rev. James Newman of the clergy association.

This man had no experience” to become an assistant chief in the first place, Newman continued. How did he get there” to an assistant chief’s position? Egan served as union president for 10 years before being elevated in 2010 from firefighter to assistant chief in charge of operations.

Representing the Firebirds, Darrell Brooks (pictured) handed the commissioners photocopies of accounts of past disciplinary actions in the department that he said pointed to a pattern of unequal treatment by the assistant chief. He also distributed copies of a May 2014 State Board of Labor Relations decision finding that Egan had, in violation of state labor law, sought to get a private doctor’s office to release confidential medical information about Brantley. It also cited his demeanor” when he visited the doctor’s office in search of the records and vehemently disagreed with a treating physician’s medical opinion.”

Commissioner George Longyear pressed Chief Wright about Egan’s handling of the Delaney’s fire.

You were the chief. Did you allow it?” Longyear pressed him.

Wright responding by asking if the discussion could be moved to executive session.

Assistant Corporation Counsel Audrey Kramer then noted that Egan had not been invited to the meeting. Therefore, she said, the commission shouldn’t be discussing specific personnel issues concerning him.

Longyear also urged his colleagues to authorize an independent investigation, not one run by the city’s legal office. They’re not going to believe the mayor. They’re not going to believe” city Corporation Counsel Victor Bolden, he said.

Kramer said she wasn’t sure if the commission has the authority to hire outside counsel to conduct such an investigation. That led statewide NAACP Scot X Esdaile to ask, Who’s in charge of the fire department?” Other city government bodies have hired outside counsel to conduct independent investigations. (For instance, the school board hired a lawyer last year to investigate allegations made against Hillhouse High School Principal Kermit Carolina.)

Longyear was the only commissioner to dissent when the commission voted to fire Brantley this past June. Fellow Commissioner Paul Nunez (at left in photo, with Commissioner Vincent Mauro Jr.) Tuesday pointed out that the body hadn’t weighed the merits of Brantley’s actions in deciding to fire him, but rather were following specific rules about how to deal with employees who have been found guilty of a felony.

After Tuesday afternoon’s meeting, Chairman Morrison said the commission heard the seriousness of the complaints raised by visitors to the meeting. He said that in addition to the internal investigation related to Wright’s request to fire Egan, the commission will hear back from Kramer about its legal authority to hire an independent investigator into the allegations raised by the visitors.

The issues raised are all of a piece and deserve scrutiny, said Morrison (pictured).

We will investigate this,” Morrison said. The commission just needs to make sure it follow the proper channels” in doing so.

Egan’s suspension followed weeks of intense political pressure on Mayor Toni Harp from black firefighters and the NAACP over Egan’s tenure. Eight battalion chiefs also signed a letter calling into question Egan’s conduct at the Delaney’s fire. Click here to read about and click on the video to watch a confrontation between the Firebirds and a leader of the Board of Alders over requests for an independent investigation by that body, too.

The commissioners pledge allegiance to the American flag at the meeting’s start.

Also at Tuesday’s meeting, Chief Wright announced that the city’s firehouses, which date to the mid-20th century, will undergo major repairs. The main firehouse will get not just new paint and windows and handicapped-accessible elevator, he said, but new lettering and logo on the outside inspired by the police department’s huge new badge replica by its Union Avenue entrance.

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