The highest-ranking official in the New York Fire Department has vowed to track down and take action against firefighters and other personnel who disrupted a ceremony honoring the department’s first black female chaplain by heckling and booing state Attorney General Letitia James.
Reports from The New York Post indicate that FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh issued a stern warning after firefighters showed support for former President Donald Trump and disrespected James during the event.
In response to the incident, FDNY Chief of Department John Hodges emailed other department leaders that an investigation by the Bureau of Investigation and Trials would soon be underway.
In the letter that The Post was able to obtain from Hodges on Saturday, he wrote, “BITS is investigating this so they will figure out who the members are.”
“I recommend they come forward. I have been told by the commissioner that it will be better for them if they come forward and we don’t have to hunt them down,” he continued.
“The [deputy chiefs] shall direct the captain of the company to make a list of those who come forward and send it directly to [FDNY operations]. I realize members might not come forward but they should know that there is a clear video of the entire incident and they will be contacted by BITS if they don’t,” he continued, according to The Post.
The media outlet also received a set of talking points given to the deputy chiefs leading the investigation.
The document emphasized the importance of members coming forward to headquarters for education on why their behavior is deemed unacceptable.
A retired department member criticized the FDNY’s strong and exaggerated reaction to the jeering incident.
The FDNY firefighters who booed NY AG Letitia James will be punished and face reeducation.
FDNY firefighters are now being asked to turn themselves in or risk being hunted down.
Memos and emails from the Uniformed Fire Officers Association (UFOA) & Uniformed Firefighters… pic.twitter.com/pBq8DccGf8
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) March 9, 2024
“It was a political stunt for the city to have the AG there. When it backfired, they sent their fascist pit bulls after guys for exercising their First Amendment rights,” he said. “Most were off-duty and not in FDNY uniform.”
Constitutional attorney and Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz also blasted the department’s response.
“Firefighters have an absolute constitutional right to boo the attorney general, and the government has no power to punish them for it,” he told The Post. “So efforts to get the names of the booers is an effort by the government to chill free speech and is unconstitutional.”
A spokesperson for the FDNY refuted claims that the department was actively pursuing members believed to be involved in the protest.
“Nobody is hunting anyone down. We’re looking into those who broke department regulations,” said spokesman Jim Long. “It has nothing to do with politics. It’s about professionalism at an official event held in a house of worship.”
The Post added: “James was invited to speak at the event to honor her friend, The Rev. Pamela Holmes, who was being sworn in as the department’s second female chaplain and the first black woman to hold that title.”
Video footage captured Kavanagh being heckled at the city’s annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Saturday after her department announced plans to address FDNY members who showed support for Trump and booed James, The Post reported.
“You suck,” one protester yelled at Kavanaugh as she marched past Trump Tower on 5th Avenue, according to video obtained by Fox News.
“Firefighters are the hunters,” he screamed.
After Kavanagh’s death, city employees were seen enthusiastically supporting a vocal group chanting the name of former President Donald Trump, with some even stopping to shake their hands.
Video footage captured this moment. Elected officials, union leaders, and civil rights lawyers criticized the behavior as authoritarian and potentially unconstitutional, arguing it could violate free speech laws.
Hodgens later apologized for his choice of words in an email to battalion chiefs, acknowledging that using “hunt” was inappropriate.
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