Thomas MacMIllan Photo
After a postponement of a termination hearing Friday, Firefighter Aaron Brantley remains on the force, at least for now.
Fire Chief Allyn Wright is recommending that Brantley (pictured) be fired following his recent conviction on bribery charges.
The Fire Commission met Friday morning to consider the matter, then voted to continue the meeting until June 2, at Brantley’s request.
Brantley will remain on unpaid leave until then.
Brantley was arrested on Jan. 14, 2013, for two felony charges of attempted bribery. He was accused of trying to pay off two fire department officials, Deputy Fire Marshal Faustino Lopez and Fire Inspector Corey Bellamy, to help him win a discrimination complaint.
Judge Brian Fischer last week found Brantley guilty of trying bribe Lopez and not guilty of trying to bribe Bellamy. Brantley has not yet been sentenced. His lawyer, Hugh Keefe, said that he will likely appeal.
Again, I feel bad for all the other firefighters of the NHFD, who go to work every day, do the best they can with what is provided to them, go through entire careers without ever creating problems, don't book off sick unless they were truly so sick they could not come in without risking the safety of their coworkers if a call came in, who truly love and respect their chosen profession, and consider it an honor to be able to work in New Haven where they will see some "real" action, and these Firefighters are aware of all this, respect and cherish the work they believe they have been fortunate to test for, pass, and be accepted.
This guy Brantley symbolizes what has been the downward spiral of the NHFD for some years now. This new breed comes to the job with the belief that all the firefighters before them, "never did anything", that firefighters "sleep all day and night", and in general got the job through "politics". And this new breed holds tight to these ill conceived beliefs even after they are on the job for years. They have slowly destroyed much of the quality and character of the NHFD, and what has happened to them. Well many of them were promoted, and have spread their ill conceived beliefs to every subordinate they are forced to work with. It is painful to watch, and a shame, that the onslaught of these bad characters into the FD continues to this day. I feel badly for every FD veteran.