http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/scn-sa-nor.tape4dec01,0,5114222.story?coll=stam-news-local-headlines
By Brian Lockhart
Staff Writer
December 1, 2006
NORWALK - Firefighter Scot Wilson's attorney said the city must go to court to obtain a copy of a 2005 videotape showing a fellow firefighter using racial slurs during an informal conversation at the Broad River station.
"We are not interested in cooperating with what we believe to be nothing but a cover-up," said John Williams, Wilson's New Haven-based attorney. "I am expecting to sue them . . . They'll get it through discovery procedures."
The tape, which Wilson showed the media two weeks ago but first offered to Fire Chief Denis McCarthy last fall, sparked concerns among black leaders and other officials about racism within the department.
McCarthy issued a public apology for his initial refusal to watch the footage and is moving forward with sensitivity training for supervisors and staff. He also pledged to investigate the contents of the recording but said Wilson refuses to cooperate.
"I've been told I am not going to receive it," McCarthy said. "I would like to bring to closure the issue of the videotape, verify its accuracy and speak to the principals who were on the tape."
McCarthy said Wilson also is refusing to name who is on the tape.
Wilson intentionally blurred the images when he showed it to The Advocate. A short transcript of the conversation Wilson has circulated omits speakers' names.
Allegedly recorded in March 2005 at the Broad River fire station, the tape shows one firefighter saying two slurs referring to blacks and Hispanics. The comments are made during an informal discussion about which department staff are included in an age discrimination complaint Wilson had filed with the state Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities.
The CHRO dismissed the ageism complaint this summer, and Wilson filed another CHRO complaint alleging racism and citing the video as evidence. The city unsuccessfully tried to settle the case and the commission is planning to assign an investigator.
The firefighters shown in the videotape appear to have known they were being taped. Wilson has said he was not there, but will not reveal who made the recording.
A 27-year veteran of the Norwalk Fire Department, Wilson at the time was facing discipline for arriving to work drunk. He submitted the tape as proof he worked in a stressful atmosphere of racial intolerance and should be transferred out of Broad River.
Wilson was treated for alcohol abuse last year and transferred this past summer, but has been suspended without pay since September when he again reported for duty under the influence of alcohol.
His termination hearing, scheduled for Nov. 21, was postponed after Wilson showed the video to the media.
In last week's apology, McCarthy said he made a "grave error in judgment" by allowing Wilson's discipline problems to "distract" him from viewing and investigating the tape.
Williams said if his client was still on active duty, the fire chief could order Wilson to hand the tape over.
"Given the way they've treated him, he's not inclined to volunteer it," Williams said.
In a recent interview, Wilson said he cannot provide copies of the videotape.
"I didn't make the tape," he said. "The tape is not mine to distribute."
City attorney Jeffry Spahr yesterday said the fire commission has the power to summon witnesses and "compel the production of evidence."
"(Wilson) cannot present a tape, charge the chief is somehow culpable of not investigating the matter, then stand in the way of the chief conducting an investigation," Spahr said.
The Rev. Lindsay Curtis, president of the Norwalk branch of the NAACP, said yesterday he was disappointed to learn Wilson had not turned over the video. Curtis was among the black leaders who criticized McCarthy for not addressing the footage.
"Not being an attorney, (I) don't know the legalities," Curtis said. "On the face of it, it seems like Scot would need to cooperate."
McCarthy said he is continuing to move forward to ensure the fire department practices racial tolerance.
He said over the next week he will probably choose between two consultants - Success by Design and Quest Initiatives.
"It would begin with an assessment of attitudes within the department, followed with supervisor and firefighter training," McCarthy said.
The initial work would be funded out of the department's training budget, the chief said.
Curtis said he appreciates McCarthy's efforts.
"I do know the chief is trying to move with due haste (and) there are substantive steps being taken," he said.
Copyright © 2006, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.