Lisa J. Huriash
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
POMPANO BEACH, Fla. — A Pompano Beach Fire Rescue lieutenant has been suspended without pay for two months after he acknowledged having sex with a woman at the fire station while on duty, city records show.
Lt. Travis Darrisaw’s suspension will last through October, according to city records released Monday. He was hired by the agency in 2015 and is paid $83,075 a year. According to city records, Darrisaw admitted to having the encounter with the woman at the station. He apologized to his agency, saying he prayed he could keep his job, and he wished he had used better judgment.
He could not be reached for comment on Monday, and a union representative also could not be reached for comment.
“Your actions are unacceptable and cannot be tolerated,” warned Chief Chad Brocato in a memo dated Aug. 10. The lieutenant violated several department rules of “conduct unbecoming,” according to records.
Investigators say the incident happened one night in May, at the beachside Fire Station 11, in his sleeping quarters “when the other firefighters in the station were sleeping.”
Later, the woman, who he had met through an app, told him that “if he liked his job” she’d need to be paid, or else, and she sent him a picture of himself dressing in his room, according to the city’s review. The investigation included interviewing the lieutenant.
Darrisaw “panicked,” so he told a sheriff’s deputy who was in his patrol car outside the station what was happening, according to records. The woman called him while he was in the parking lot, and he put the call on speaker so some of his subsequent telephone call with the woman, including conversations about money, was recorded on the deputy’s bodycam video.
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