A white FDNY firefighter hurled a racist and sexist insult at an EMT while emergency medical services were attempting to bring power back to Starrett City residents last Sunday.
According to the New York Daily News, during a heated exchange between an EMS crew and some firefighters, a white firefighter from Engine Co. 290 in Brooklyn lashed out a black female EMT.
“Just do your job, you black bitch,” he allegedly yelled at the EMT.
The Daily News reports that the EMT filed a complaint to the FDNY’s Equal Employment Opportunity office the same day. A spokesperson for the department told the Daily News on Friday they were investigating the firefighter, but that he remained on active duty.
Allegations of racism and discrimination have long plagued “New York’s Bravest.” The department paid out a $98 million settlement in a suit fired by black and Latinx firefighting applicants who accused the FDNY of discriminating against them in the hiring process.
Earlier this year, a Black Muslim firefighter filed a lawsuit against FDNY claiming he had suffered years or racist and religious harassment. When Raheem Hassan called out the abuse, supervisors falsely claimed he threatened violence against them and had him arrested, he says.
Last year, FDNY’s civilian employees launched a federal civil rights suit against the department, alleging systemic job and wage discrimination.
And just this past June, the Daily News reports, a full-out brawl between firefighters broke out a bar near Yankee Stadium when a white firefighter called a black firefighter a “nigger.” Seven firefighters and an FDNY lieutenant were suspended without pay following the incident.