Fire Dept. 'noose' was an innocent slipknot

By Aaron Leo Staff writer
ConnPosted: 02/05/2009 09:02:16 PM EST

Fire Dept. 'noose' was an innocent slipknot - Topix

BRIDGEPORT -- A knotted rope found Jan. 15 in Fire Department Headquarters that was mistaken for a noose was really a slipknot used to hold a door closed.

"This was a slipknot and it was misidentified," fire Capt. Luis Rivera, department spokesman, said Thursday, adding that the firefighters who tied it have come forward.

"I don't think" they will be disciplined, he said. But Fire Chief Brian Rooney has issued an order reminding fire personnel that nooses will not be tolerated.

The state's hate crime law was amended in October 2008 to make hanging a noose to intimidate someone illegal.

Donald Day, a retired city firefighter and past director of the Northeast Region of the International Association of Black Professional Fire Fighters, said Thursday he heard of the finding.

"Individuals should be a little more cognizant of the implications of what they're doing," he said. City Fire Lt. Shane Porter, the new director of the group, wasn't immediately available for comment.

Day added that while he did not know the firefighters' motives, he said no one would admit to maliciously tying a noose.

Ronald Mackey, past president of the Firebirds, another black firefighter group, agreed. He said in Syracuse, N.Y., a white rookie firefighter tied a noose and showed it to his colleagues, including a black woman, Mackey said, citing a report in The Post-Standard. He apologized and was disciplined after it was found he did not know the historical meaning of a noose, the paper reported.

Mackey added he wanted the chief to make a public statement regarding the Bridgeport incident.

Meanwhile, Rivera explained what happened. A firefighter noticed a door wasn't locking and made a slipknot to hold it closed.

"He looped that slipknot around both doors and cinched it down," Rivera said. He later untied it and threw it on the desk.

"Now another firefighter comes in, notices the slipknot. [It] looks like a noose," he said.

The firefighter, who was black, "did the right thing" by reporting it, Rivera added. The incident was also reported to police but no one in the department has commented on it.

The chief then put out a memo "saying what happened and this should not happen again," according to the captain.

"It wasn't hanging from a beam or something like that. A hangman's noose is supposed to have 13 knots," Rivera added.

Tying knots is a skill taught in the Fire Academy, Rooney said.

Firefighters carry rope with them in case they need an emergency escape method, or they can use the skill to tie things together to escape a burning building if necessary, he said.