By Julie Adam
The Kansas City Star
Copyright 2007 The Kansas City Star
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Reggie Boyd, a Kansas City, Kan., firefighter under investigation for using a pumper truck to fill a private swimming pool, has been suspended without pay, according to the firefighters union.
Attempts to reach Boyd, who was the crew supervisor on the pumper, were unsuccessful.
Two other firefighters on the crew are still on duty, said Robert Wing, president of International Association of Fire Fighters Local 64.
Acting Kansas City, Kan., Fire Chief Robert Rocha said in a release on Friday that he expected the investigation and any final disciplinary action to be decided by the second week of July. Attempts to reach Rocha or other fire officials concerning Boyd’s suspension were unsuccessful.
Wing said the incident has been handled poorly by the Fire Department and the Unified Government, and he is demanding an apology.
Wing said the fact that Boyd was first suspended with pay, is now suspended without pay, and still faces discipline is an incorrect way to handle an investigation. “That will not stand scrutiny,” he said.
Police officers were on surveillance of suspected drug activity near 51st and Hagemann streets on Sunday when they observed the three-man crew filling a pool from a hydrant through the pumper truck. Wing said Friday that the crew was getting ready to test the truck and decided to grant a resident’s request to fill the pool instead of letting the water run down the street.
“The unauthorized use of Pumper 17 to fill a private swimming pool while it was supposed to be active and ready to respond to emergency calls put citizens in that area of KCK at risk,” Rocha said in the statement.
On Wednesday, Mike Taylor, spokesman for the Unified Government, said that had the truck been called to an emergency, it would have taken the crew 20 to 30 minutes to get the equipment back in order. Wing disputed that statement.
Wing compared filling the pool to other community service activities that the Fire Department gets official orders to do, such as washing city buildings or spraying children with water in the summer.