Last July we told you an interesting story about Bennington Rural Fire Department Chief Joseph Hayes, who was criminally charged after throwing a flashlight at a motorist who didn’t slow down at an emergency scene. In January, Hayes entered a guilty plea on a disorderly conduct charge saying he wanted to get this all behind him. On probation in that case, Hayes, who lost reelection last month but is still a department official, now has something new that he will want to get behind him. Joseph Hayes is accused of embezzlement and false pretenses surrounding a fire department raffle. In addition, Hayes’ wife Angela has been charged with accessory on the false pretenses charge.
“This all stems from a raffle at the Bennington Rural Fire Department while he was the chief where, allegedly, people who won prizes as a result of the raffle never received them. There is an allegation that money that people paid for raffle tickets was never turned over to the department,” (Bennington Police Chief Paul) Doucette said.
Hayes also faced an embezzlement charge in 2007, but was referred to the court diversion program.
In July we told you about a June incident reported in the Bennington Banner where Bennington Rural Fire Department (VT) Chief Joseph Hayes faced criminal charges after being accused of throwing a flashlight at a car he thought was going to hit him while the chief was checking out arcing wires along a road. Chief Hayes entered a guilty plea yesterday to disorderly conduct, one of two charges he faced after tossing the flashlight at Fred Grant’s vehicle in an effort to get him to slow down.
The state dropped the mischief charge and Hayes agreed that he would go before a reparative board with the next four months. If he completes the board’s instructions his case will be sealed and not show up on his record, said his attorney William D. Wright, of Bennington.
Wright said in an interview that his client feared he would be hit by Grant’s vehicle and while jumping out of the way Hayes underhand tossed the flashlight which hit Grant’s car. He said it was an instinctive action and there was no intent to hit or damage Grant’s vehicle.
According to Wright, Hayes agreed to the plea agreement because he wished the case to be over with and felt the reparative board was acceptable, rather than take the matter to trial. “This is the ugly part of our system,” Wright said. “He’s thought about a trial and the system has a way of wearing people down.”
As for the driver, Fred Grant had told police that he did not notice Chief Hayes, who was not wearing a reflective vest when he crossed the road to look at the number on a utility pole. Grant said he was going between 15 and 20 mph and that rain and oncoming headlights blocked his view of Hayes.
Judge Garrett Page in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania wasn’t happy that 55-year-old Donald Pierce of Philadelphia didn’t think the barricades blocking a flooded road in the Willow Grove area during Tropical Storm Lee weren’t for him. After Pierce drove around that silly obstruction in the road he soon needed help. Of course it was up to firefighters to save his butt. Which they did.
But a police officer who said he saw Pierce drive around the barriers in his red minivan charged the man with three counts of recklessly endangering others and reckless driving. The three counts were one each for the three firefighters who risked their lives in an attempt make sure Pierce walked away from the mess he created for himself.
According to Margaret Gibbons at PhillyBurbs.com, as part of an agreement, Donald Pierce entered a guilty plea to a charge of disorderly conduct. Judge Page yesterday fined Pierce $300 and ordered him to make a $1000 donation to the Willow Grove Fire Company and send letters of apology to the three firefighters who tried to reach him.
Here’s a description of the rescue from PhillyBurbs.com:
The vehicle drove into the flooded roadway and got about halfway through the swift moving flood waters when it became disabled. The force of the water pushed the van to the side of the road and up against a guardrail.
Three Willow Grove firefighters, trained in water rescues, entered the flooded roadway to rescue the driver but, after getting about halfway to the van and in water up to their hips, had to abandon that attempt because they were in danger of being swept downstream because of the swift flowing floodwaters.
A second attempt, using an Enterprise Fire Co. ladder truck, was successful.
Four-alarm fire in Fall River, Massachusetts: Providence Fire Videos on the scene yesterday afternoon at a vacant mill complex on Bay Street. Two firefighters were slightly hurt. Here’s more.
Jerry Engle on the left. James Martinez on the right.
Second PGFD volunteer pleads guilty in 2008 arson case: James Martinez, a 25-year-old former career firefighter in Montgomery County, Maryland, has entered a guilty plea on Monday to second-degree conspiracy to commit arson in connection with a fire that Martinez fought as a volunteer with the Riverdale VFD in Prince George’s County. This is the same fire that long-time PGFD volunteer Jerry Engle admitted to setting. Engle was sentenced in September to a year in jail, but was released on time served (click here for that story). Martinez is scheduled for sentencing on December 3. Ruben Castaneda has more in The Washington Post. Click here to review our previous coverage of this case beginning in April, 2009.
Suspended Spalding County, GA firefighter identified. Report calls for firing over cell phone video of dead woman: The report looking at the July incident where video was taken of the body of a woman inside a crushed car calls for at least one firefighter to be fired. At the same time the local news media has identified the firefighter who was suspended after the incident came to light as Terrence Reid. Here’s the latest.
VA fire chief charged with DWI: NVDaily.com reports that Tim Welsh, who heads Virginia’s Frederick County Fire & Rescue Department, is on administrative leave following his arrest Monday on a DWI charge. Here are the details (more here).
Did cops turn off the sprinkler system at California mall where man had barricaded himself?: As we first told you yesterday the answer to that question is now part of the official investigation into the blaze that heavily damaged the Westfield Galleria in Roseville. Click here to learn what a TV station has determined so far. Also, Fossilmedic Mike Ward, who had suspicisions about the sprinkler issue right away, wonders if this was done to keep the robots from melting. Check it out.
Chief resigns following rebellion by firefighters over winter uniform: In Chelsea, Massachusetts, where the IAFF local and Chief Herbert Fothergill have long battled, the final skirmish came when the chief wrote up almost the entire department for not wearing the winter uniform shirt. Then Chief Fothergill suddenly resigned. More from Boston.com.
Deputy sheriff’s great escape after lighting up: Pretty amazing story from Jackson County, Georgia where a sheriff’s deputy’s propane-powered cruiser caught fire after he lighted a cigarette while responding to a call. Here’s that story.
Refund may be coming for Tulsa firefighter applicants: Before charging $25 a head to 342 people who want to be firefighters the City of Tulsa claims it checked out a lot of the legalities. The one they forgot to look at is whether Tulsa had the authority to do it without a City Council approved ordinance being enacted. Read the details.
Firefighters honored for saving bridge from barge: In New Hope, Pennsylvania four firefighters have been recognized for helping to figure out how to keep a runaway barge from taking out a bridge on a rain swollen river. Here’s more.
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