The EMS lieutenant who tweeted a bevy of racist, antisemitic comments has been suspended from his job. FDNY spokesman Frank Gribbon told the Post, "The commissioner's deeply concerned," and added that 12-year-veteran Lt. Timothy Dluhos has been "suspended…without pay."
Dluhos used a portrait of Adolf Hitler for his Twitter avatar, "Bad Lieutenant" (@BKNorthLt), and lamented working with "coloreds" while noting that "chinks can't drive" and calling Mayor Bloomberg "King Heeb." You can read more of his humor here.
After being confronted by a Post reporter, Dluhos was photographed on Saturday wearing a jacket embroidered with the words "Bad Lieutenant" and sobbing on his stoop. “There has got to be a lot worse out there than me,” he said. “My life is ruined. Oh, my God. I’m so sorry.” Confronted again at his apartment yesterday, Dluhos told a reporter, “For my children’s safety, please, you have to leave me alone."
This is the second race-related issue FDNY Commissioner Salvatore Cassano has had to deal with in a week, the first involving his 23-year-old son Joseph, who resigned after his own racist tweets were found. Cassano and Dluhos ignored warnings from the EMS union in January that it was combing social media for disturbing content. “The commissioner is upset about both of these cases,” Gribbon said.
A retired EMS worker told the paper that “The FDNY is moving to get as many firefighters and EMS members who they deem as offensive off line as quickly as possible." Naturally, some are defending Dluthos' right to be anonymously racist:
Apparently the @nypost doesn't understand how people with stressful jobs use humor to deal with it.@bknorthlt
— T to the Tom (@Ttom925) March 25, 2013
.@candicegiove wow. You must enjoy the attention. Bknorthlt didn't @ mention people. He told horrible jokes. You tried to ruin his life.
— Gabe (@gaberepp) March 25, 2013
The @nypost referenced a Tweet by @bknorthlt that I responded to...am I next on their list? #Gestapo
— ButtFaceBenny (@SCUDHunter76) March 24, 2013