I think as a City we have become accustomed to the Hartford Fire Department being run properly under Chief Reggie Freeman, no major controversy, no daily embarrassing news stories, just a professionally run organization. That wasn't the case under former Chief Carlos Huertas .
Back in 2015, Captain Thomas Dalton was attacked at a fire scene by a subordinate, Lieutenant Michael Patterson. The ensuing Hartford Police investigation resulted in findings that Patterson was the aggressor and was at fault for the incident. The Hartford Police investigator for the incident actually pursued an arrest warrant for Patterson for his involvement .
Despite the fact that statements and the Police investigation appeared to substantiate that Patterson was the aggressor, the incompetent Fire Chief Huertas and Brady pursued disciplinary action against Captain Dalton.
While Patterson, the aggressor, received a two week suspension, Dalton, the victim of Patterson's aggression received a 3 month suspension.
Dalton subsequently filed a lawsuit against the City of Hartford , the Hartford Fire Department and Huertas and Brady.for the treatment and discipline.
That trial begins today before a jury in Hartford Superior Court, unless the City smartens up first and tries to minimize their losses before it hits the jury.
The original HPD arrest warrant application and incident reports are below. The actual lawsuit documents have been sealed on the judicial website while Jury selection was underway..
Bring your own popcorn, this should be more entertaining than a Hollywood comedy..
Dalton eventually retired in good standing as a District/Deputy Chief.. P:atterson is still employed by HFD Patterson Dalton Incident R... by kevinhfd on Scribd
37 comments:
Future Hartford Courant headline "City Of Hartford buys yet another million dollar waterfront home for a former firefighter".
An argument between 2 firemen led to that warrant?
The admin should have squashed this incident as the only thing it accomplished was to bring unwanted attention
to HFD. Failure by upper admin. Both firefighters should have been “called on the carpet” m that’s called counseling
nowadays and transferred as to have little contact with each other.
HPD had to clean up this dogshit when it was the responsibility of HFD admin. Truly awful and both firefighters should
know better.
So Long Big Time. Only brain left in that complex now is the Lantern.
Lantern, we in patrol plead our alligance to you.
At least you try and are attempting to interact with the real men of HPD.
Now the real entertainment will begin. Which horse should i place my bets on?
What is the over/ under on the deputy vacant offices being filled?
and by whom?
CHIEF Huertas was useless just like his nephew Joseph Huertas is now. His nephew is another piece of work who brags about how he can get away with anything because his uncle was the former Chief of Department. He shows no respect to higher ranking members.
If a high ranking member can't put Joe Huertas in his place, he or she should not be a high ranking member!
Easy there Capt.Patterson
Patterson is useless ,Chief Huertas was useless,Joseph Huertas is useless. One piece of crap bagging another piece of crap!!Standard HFD ways!!
It was a long time ago and I could be mistaken, but I'm pretty sure it was Mike Patterson who went off on an A (on duty) injury from picking up a pencil. I believe his report stated that he hurt his back while picking up "a object". A object. Say it with me: a object.
That would be CAPT Patterson who should had never even been a firefighter
At least he got transferred to a busy firehouse,so that's a good start to put him back in his place. That's what happens when a high ranking member walks in the firehouse and u stay sitting down in your chair and don't even acknowledge him. Joseph Huertas is known as LJ around the fire dept. THAT STANDS FOR LAZY JOE!!!He has been useless for years. He does not care about the HFD or his job he is just here for the money. I remember when he was AWOL for work and uncle Charlie went to pick him up at home in his city issued vehicle to wake him up from his hangover.
HFD is uncharacteristically quiet on a post that pertains to them. But they sure weren't that way when I was battling my addiction. Like a bitchy wife "the brotherhood" chooses which faults to complain about while overlooking their own. Dalton, one of the bitchiest wives, will be fine. Patterson will be fine. Everything will be fine. It's Hartford. No accountability, no consequences. Just don't admit to having a problem and don't ask for help. If you do, you're f****ed.
6:34pm You had plenty of chances and plenty of people that lied and covered for you!
Assistant CHIEF Barco walks around High ST in sandals and shorts but then goes around all the firehouses trying to enforce dress code rules. He is a joke ,Freeman is a joke and Reilly is just the pounding boy for Barco and Freeman.
Reggie is the best thing to happen to that Department in several years. As a resident whose tax dollars pay for all the HFD nonsense settlements, I appreciate his leadership. Would you prefer Casares or Huertas back so it can become a free-for-all circus once again?
Check out the stupid email that little Reggie just send out 5 mins ago !!! It's like preschool in the HFD!!!
I only get internal e-mails from HPD and City Hall, not HFD, feel free to forward it to me if you would like
krbrookman@earthlink.net
Neither Freeman and all four of his Ass. Chief choices should ever have been in the HFD administration!
9:59PM
I would be interested to know what you base that on. I don't need to defend Reggie, and I really don't know his Assistant Chiefs. I am not sure if people realize, without Reggie's leadership we probably would have seen the closure of Fire Houses during recent budgets, but under Reggie's leadership 130 new Firefighters were hired with funds Reggie obtained from Washington. Although the Mayor took credit for that in his recent ads. Bronin is the one that tinkered with your benefits causing large amounts of firefighters to retire. Without those 130 new hires , HFD would be sucking wind right about now. Is Reggie a lifetime firefighter coming from a family legacy of firefighters, no. Is he capable of leading the HFD and motivating firefighters and providing safe conditions for them, absolutely.
@9:59 you sound like an idiot. Your probably just mad because you been on the engine your whole career and can’t pass a rank test.
Kevin you only see what little Reggie shows you. You have no clue all the nonsense and incompetence in the HFD. Hartford Fire has only about 50 real firefighters left the rest are a bunch of useless dummies. All Reggie cares about are numbers on paper . BARCO is the PlayStation Chief and Reilly is just a puppet.
130 firefighters were replaced not added like Bronin claims.
If you have an issue with somebody why dont you express those issues to the persons face instead of crying about it on some blog for the whole world to see. Man up
Paper puppet department! Very few real firefighters left. Unfortunately not the fault of those left to survive. Reggie got what he wanted so just sit back and let everything burn!
8:26 AM ,,CONGRADULATIONS!!!!! Adding together all the YEARS visiting and THOUSANDS of comments I’ve read on this blog ,,,YOU 8:26 AM are “ THE WORLDS BEST ASSHOLE” ,,,,,, I once attended a promotional ceremony for two privates that were heading to Special Services ,, the two had a few minutes at the podium to address family, friends and co-workers ,,the first one up starts off by stating “I thought I would get STUCK in the back seat of an engine my whole career” ,,,a few idiots (some were active and retired HFD) laughed !! The second private follows that idiotic speech and states “If I were in the back seat of an engine in the Hartford Fire Department my whole career it would be an honor and a priveledge and I would be completely happy”,,, they were some of the most impactful words ever delivered at any ceremony I’ve attented ,,extra special in the fact I was sitting next to my brother-in-law who PROUDLY SAT IN THE BACK SEAT FOR 29 years in HFD,,,,YOU 8:26 AM are the perfect example I use when breaking down the TRUE makeup of HFD ,,,,YOU 8:26 AM are someone who “ WORKS” in the fire department but NEVER WAS AND WILL NEVER BE A “FIREFIGHTER”!!!! ASSHOLE at 8:26 AM ,,since your retired HFD mentors failed to inform you of this most important fact please allow me to do so ,,,,MOST OF HARTFORD’s GREATEST “FIREFIGHTERS” SAT AND ARE NOW SITTING IN THE BACK SEAT OF A TRUCK OR ENGINE AND NEVER TOOK OR WILL TAKE A RANK TEST!!!! Again ,8:26 AM ,,job well done !! You are ,,,”THE WORLDS BEST ASSHOLE”
@7:11. You are absolutely right. I have taken full accountability for my actions numerous times both in my life and publicly on this blog. I miss the job. I dream about the department every night. I took the best job in the world and fucked it in the ass because of my illness. I am now a certified recovery counselor and the combination of the disease of addiction and poor choices I made led me to where I am right now, through my own hard work and self care. Not through the grace of HFDs EAP, who worked against me every step of the way. Not through the support of "the brotherhood" who talked shit and blamed me for things I never did. HFD is a great job with an extremely toxic and hypocritical environment. Look at your own glaring faults, rather than pointing out those in others. Oh, and when it comes to accountability, my name is Brendan Fitzpatrick. What's yours?
Hey Brendan, when I read 7:11 PM , I collectively morphed Tom Discipio,Scott Brady ,Bobby Walsh,Charles Teale,Mike Parker and especially EAP’s Faye Soltys into one ignorant individual that posted that comment,,Even though they thought they were the smartest people in the room that perfectly fit that saying of “you don’t know what you don’t know”....You might not blame them fully , ,but I do . Their approach to responsibly help you through your illness was way over their heads . EAP, then and now is ineffective in the fact that HFD has never considered hiring a professional outsider who is capable of truly helping those afflicted with alcoholism,drug addiction,PTSD etc. and most importantly keeping their big fat mouth shut. I called Faye the EAP rep anonymously and warned her of a definite failure occurring with their decision to send you to your new assignment .They actually said your new officer would keep you in line,,LOL,,he was the greatest officer and firefighter I ever worked with ,period. I told Faye that this officer was so nice he would light the crack pipe for you! No lie, their come back offer was to transfer me out so I wouldn’t be exposed to your behavior .They wouldn’t give two shits about you and I. Even though I conveyed to Faye I wanted to stay anonymous ,everyone on the 3rd floor of Pearl St and every Local 760 leader knew it was me.Although you and I didn’t have a long tenure together I will always value that portion of my career ,,not only were you a hard worker at incidents ,you provided friendship in the firehouse and a boat load of laughs. Please watch South Parks version of The Aristocrats again.One of my biggest regrets and embarrassment to myself is not publicly exposing their decisions. They all should have been held accountable and just maybe EAP would be run a lot differently . Fortunately for these knuckleheads to sleep at night they’ll tell themselves over and over that it was all on you Brendan. I’m pleased to read that your doing your best work ever assisting others in getting better. Godspeed comrad .
Still waiting, tough guy
Kevin, better call your buddy Tommy and see how things worked out.
Might want to check with muscles to so how things went
Kevin, whatever happened to another ass, former FD Ass. Chief Terry Waller. This dirty mouth is collecting big money in his retirement, doing tons of
construction work on his Park street property. Is the work performed legal? Did he file for permits? The land is fenced so nobody can see what's going on inside.
Just like the last E-1, L-6 D-Tour person to lose their career, your supporters cost you your job more than EAP or the administration! No matter what the race is you can only cover for a person so many times before you are throwing gas on the fire. Whether the person looks like you or not at a certain point only an extended time away can solve a problem! Excuses never work! At a certain point only the toughest love works. Every "Society" connected with HFD has made this error time after time.
Spot on 5:04pm Most terminations have as much to do with the people surrounding the separated employee than the employees problem.You cannot cover for people with serious addiction problems.
There is no visible permit posted at 287 Park Street, the property Terry owns for years
The truth always comes out in the wash! You can only cover for or hide an addict for so long. The people who think they are doing someone a favor are only putting the first nail in their coffin.
No one will ever properly investigate Little Terry and Sandra Kee because the $ properties and bogus city development loans have run rampant for decades. Just ask the city treasurer!
11:11 AM , The only sentence revision I would make to your very truthful statement above would be this “You can only cover for or hide a addict,shitbag,incompetent,weak (physically and mentally),cheat,dummy,criminal,etc. for so long” Unfortunately the “first nail in their coffin” ending to your comment reminded me how Bell should have never been hired,pushed through training and assigned “safely” to E-16 by those at the top . Between politically connected Chiefs and Local 760 leadership I guess there is enough blood walking around to stain their hands with. How they sleep at night has always bewildered me.
1:44 PM
Did Terry Waller save Sandra Kee Burgess from foreclosure on 140 Terry Rd?
Did Sandra Kee Burgess arrange in her last city hall job a deal for Terry on 287 Park St?
City of Hartford had a lien/liens of around $50,000 on 287 Park. Who waived these liens? Who benefited from this?
What is happening now with 287 Park?
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