Criminal Charges Expected in FDNY Bar Brawl

Sinan Selmani

There are, unsurprisingly, conflicting accounts about who started a violent melee between roughly a dozen off-duty firefighters and a group of cousins in a Bay Ridge bar early Saturday morning. The fight started as Sinan Selmani, a soccer coach at St. Francis College in Brooklyn Heights, passed out shots to his cousins and one of them, Luan Leka, 21, spilled his drink on a firefighter. The NYPD and FDNY say the firefighter demanded an apology and instead Leka punched him in the jaw, while a lawyer for the cousins says Leka did apologize but the firefighter was still irate. And when Selmani intervened, the firefighter punched him, sparking the brawl.

Investigators have obtained surveillance video from the Salty Dog, and the cousins' lawyer tells the Post, "I've seen the video, and it's disgusting. It makes the blood boil. There's no amount of spin that you can put on this that can refute it." He claims that one of the wounded cousins can be seen trying to escape the bar while holding his head, only to be subdued by a mob of firefighters who continued beating him. Selmani suffered the worst injuries—a broken eye orbital bone and a fractured shoulder and collarbone—and was allegedly dragged into a bathroom and beaten before escaping to the basement with one cousin. They reportedly hid there for two hours before coming out.

"These men beat my son very badly," Selmani's father told the Daily News last night. "It was eight people hitting him. He was brutalized. He did nothing wrong." Their lawyer says they were celebrating a victory for their bowling team at the Salty Dog, which the men frequent often "because they felt safe there" in the FDNY-themed bar. "How ironic is it that they got pummeled by a bunch of firefighters acting like a pack of rabid dogs?" Joe Tacopina, the lawyer, asks the Post. "It was feeding frenzy."

It's not clear how many firefighters would be charged out of the dozen or so involved. But several off-duty firefighters who were working at the Salty Dog that night have given "damning" statements against their FDNY brothers to investigators, according to the Post. And Fire Commissioner Salvatore Cassano, dealing with his first scandal since taking the job, refused to comment on the status of the investigation, but told NY1, "The firehouse that's in question is a very active unit, it's made up of a very good crew, they do a lot of work with the Wounded Warriors, so when it came to my attention that that might be the company, I was surprised...My gut reaction is, that's not what firefighters do." Never never never!

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By John Del Signore in News on February 5, 2010 10:17 AM

Comments [rss]

NannyState

My plans have changed because of this. Now I'll just find another bar to watch the soccer match.

Snoopy

A soccer match you be wanting to watch and have but a nice drawn cold pint of Guiness or two in the quietude and friendship of those about you? Might I ask is both your health and life insurance premiums fully paid up?

Bubba

Rule 1: Stay out of bars frequented by firefighters.

Rule 2: Stay out of cop bars.

just saying

That drunk mob of sociopath firefighters is anything but "NYC's bravest." A mob of 12-24 against 4? It doesn't get more cowardly than that. What's worse is that this group included a FDNY lieutenant and a captain. Although they weren't directly involved in the brawl, it's obvious they also didn't do much to stop it. (Really good leadership and judgment on their part.)

The report says two of the victims hid in the basement for two(!) hours before coming out. Kinda hard to believe. Why didn't the bartender immediately call the cops? Seems the bar also has some liability here for the very poor way it handled the situation.

(The only even remotely positive part is that it was a firefighter bar--and not a cop bar. Gotta wonder what really bad stuff would've gone down if the boozed-up patrons had been packing.)

piknyc

Folks, can we take a minute now to remember 9/11

Andrew_7396

Newsflash -- > GOTHAMIST HATES COPES AND FIREMEN. HATES.

Rocknrope

Yep, that's why they featured every firefighter rescue that occurred this week.

Troll along, nothing to see here.

Jackie Curtis

Blame it on the a aa aa alcohol...Blame it on the a aaa a alcohol...

ProcedureTurn

Friefighers are usally lug heads. Doesnt surprise me. They lift weights all day and do nothing. THeyre really not heros. Just thugs disguised as city workers in suspenders. I usually laugh at fire fighers when i see them... funny bunch, they are.

Snoopy

"I usually laugh at fire fighters when i see them..." Let me know when you want to stand in the front of the open apparatus bay doors of a firehouse, you can pick any company you want, and look in when the guys come back from a job and you start laughing. Don't worry I will bring my own sponge, mop and pail. Your next of kin can keep the pail.

jaycjay

"Don't worry I will bring my own sponge, mop and pail. Your next of kin can keep the pail."

So what you're saying is, you think the kind of action being alleged in the story is very likely true -- that firefighters will react violently to any perceived slight?