By Margaret Harding
The Pittsburgh Tribune Review
PITTSBURGH — A Pittsburgh firefighter charged with beating a man outside his Duquesne Heights home will remain on duty until a judge decides the case.
“We’re going to wait for the disposition of the case before we make any moves,” city fire Chief Darryl Jones said Wednesday.
Thomas Pouch, 44, a lieutenant at 38 Engine in Northview Heights, is at least the seventh city firefighter arrested since December. He surrendered to authorities Tuesday. Pittsburgh police charged him with aggravated assault in connection with a July 14 incident outside his Plymouth Street home. He was arraigned and posted $5,000 bond, court records show.
Pouch’s home phone number was disconnected yesterday. No one answered the door to his home.
“These guys have to be able to conduct themselves in a civil and sociable manner,” Jones said. “There seems to be some problem with that, but we’re working on it.”
Other firefighters have been charged with assault, drunken driving, burglary and drug use, among other offenses.
The Fire Bureau metes out punishment as cases move through the courts, Jones said. Firefighters have faced suspensions, rehabilitation and fines, he said.
“As far as preventing this, I don’t know how to prevent this,” Jones said.
He has stressed to his department that firefighters must hold themselves to a higher standard, but “we’re just people, too,” he said. “How many fights occurred throughout the city the night Lt. Pouch got into a fight?”
According to a criminal complaint:
Frank Ciesielski, 42, of Castle Shannon arrived with a friend at Pouch’s home looking for a man Ciesielski said owed him $20. Ciesielski suspected the man would be at the house because he said the man and his girlfriend, Jen Taylor, often were there.
When Pouch answered the door, he told Ciesielski the man didn’t live there and that Taylor was his girlfriend. Ciesielski said he began walking away. Pouch ran at him and punched him in the left eye, then hit him in the head and face, and kicked him in the ribs.
Ciesielski’s friend, Matt Kirsopp, helped him to the car and drove him home. Ciesielski later went to UPMC Presbyterian in Oakland, where he was treated for fractures to his left orbital bone, a scratched retina, broken left nasal septum and other injuries.
Kirsopp identified Pouch from a photo lineup as the man responsible for the beating.
Pouch has worked for the fire bureau since 1997 and earned about $86,500 in salary and overtime in 2009, according to city records. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Aug. 12.
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