It's safe to say that after a year of controversy, the FDNY really didn't need news that a woman was having sex with at least two firefighters at a Bronx station house, stemming from rape charges. It's all very confusing, but here are some of the facts: A firefighter met a woman, a Staten Island divorcee, in an Internet chat room, and after chatting for a few months, they met at Ladder 33/Engine 75 (known as "Animal House"), where they had sex in a vestibule. The woman also had sex with another firefighter. Then, when she went home and called 911 at the prompting of her mother, saying she'd been gang-raped. She later recanted, saying the sex was consensual, and the two firefighters (one married) were supended, with nine other firefighters reassigned and three others fired. The tabloids are having a field day with story, from reports that the woman had sex with 200-300 firefighters, to her ex-husband's statements about her being bipolar and that September 11 made her snap, prompting her to sleep with "every cop and firefighter in town." And then the police are still investigating whether the sex was consensual.
Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta met with reporters yesterdayalso said, "We're simply not going to let the activities of a few members ... soil the very hard-won reputation of this department," which, in Gothamist's mind, seemed to refer to earlier controversies with firefighters (drunk driving incidents, brawls, accidents due to drug use). The FDNY's investigation is being compared to the Knapp Commission, which was the investigation into police corruption
