Patricia Kavaler, Ex-FDNY Personnel, Says "White Firefighters Criminal Pasts" Ignored During Hiring Process, Including Two White Officers Involved in Shooting Death of Amadou Diallo

Ex-FDNY personnel Patricia Kavaler says "white firefighters criminal pasts ignored during hiring," including Richard Murphy & Edward McMellon, two white officers involved in shooting death of unarmed black man Amadou Diallo.

It seems like the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) has a dirty secret -- white firefighters with criminal pasts. Patricia Kavaler, a former assistant commissioner for personnel, recently gave a sworn deposition in which the explosive revelation was made.

Kavaler's statement was entered into evidence yesterday in Brooklyn Federal Court, where a group representing black firefighters is trying to get a special monitor to oversee reform in the Fire Department.

She recalled FDNY brass lobbying members of a review board that decides whether to overlook candidates' sketchy pasts. "This is 'boys being boys,'" Kavaler said in describing the calls from firefighters vouching for the candidates. "That sort of thing."

In blunt language, Kavaler described how the calls went: "You would have lieutenants and captains. . . . 'This is the son of so and so. I lived next-door to him for years, he's a good guy.'

"'He beat his wife but his wife took him back so he shouldn't be considered a wife beater,'" she said in her 2008 statement, describing the types of calls made on behalf of troubled white candidates. "'He still could be a good firefighter.'"

Some were willing to stick their necks out for the questionable potential hires. "And people would say, 'I know this guy, his son has got to come on the job, I will vouch for him,' " she recalled.

Kavaler also noted that the names of candidates who were before the review board were leaked by members of her staff. Another FDNY official was grilled about the hiring of two white former cops who beat murder raps in the infamous police shooting of Amadou Diallo.

Dean Tow, director of candidate investigations for the FDNY, was asked about former NYPD cops Richard Murphy and Edward McMellon. They got jobs at the FDNY after they were cleared by a jury of gunning down Diallo. Source: NY Daily News

I remember clearly when Amadou Diallo was gunned down and the fact that he was an unarmed black man, who did nothing wrong when he was accosted by the officers.