Fire Law Blog Fire Service and Public Safety Legal Issues Blog by Curt Varone
For those of you who write in asking whether the American fire service is totally out of control, comes a story from overseas…. to confirm the proverbial saying – same circus different clowns…. or is it different circus same clowns…
A fire officer in Wales is accused of playing “tit cricket” with a female subordinate, and then passing off his boorish behavior as nothing more than “garage humor”.
David Lewis is facing five counts of sexual touching without consent. The married father of two allegedly would squeeze the breasts of a female subordinate and award himself “six runs” for doing so. He is also accused of pulling down the unnamed woman’s pants.
According to The Sun, the victim told the police in a recorded statement played to the jury:
- He would tell me to go up first then put his finger up my bum over my trousers.
- He would chase me up the stairs and pull down my jogging bottoms.
- He would play tit cricket, trying to catch my boobs by jumping out from behind a door.
- It was ongoing every day.
Lewis, whose official title is Crew Manager, denies the accusations. The trial is on going.
Maybe the saying should be: different circus, different clowns, same stunts… at any rate it is not just the American fire service that is experiencing these problems. That is not to say it is OK or in any way acceptable… just that it is not a purely American phenomenon… it is a matter of the human condition.
