DETROIT (WJBK) - Earlier this month, 41-year-old
Robert Pattison went to introduce himself to his fellow firefighters
at Engine 55 at Joy and Southfield in Detroit. Second Battalion Chief
Shawn McCarty calls it a tradition for firefighters.
"It's not mandatory, it's voluntary," he says. "You
come in bearing gifts. The usual gift is doughnuts, but you are
allowed to bring whatever you want to bring in."
And Pattison, a probationary firefighter, decided to bring a
watermelon wrapped in a pink ribbon. We're told some African-American
firefighters were instantly offended, since 90% of the people who
work at Engine 55 are black.
"When you get your first detail at
a firehouse you pretty much know what you are getting yourself into,"
says Patrick Trout. "So you would have to say it was probably a
bad call."
FOX 2: "Is it racially insensitive to bring a watermelon into
a fire house?"
"To some people," McCarty says.
FOX 2 spoke to Pattison by phone, who claims it was not a joke -
and he did not mean to offend his fellow firefighters. But he clearly
did. Fire Commissioner Eric Jones says the Fenton native was
officially discharged.
In a statement Jones says: "There is zero tolerance for
discriminatory behavior inside the Detroit Fire Department. On
Saturday, Sept. 30, 2017, at Engine 55, a trial firefighter
(probationary employee) engaged in unsatisfactory work behavior which
was deemed offensive and racially insensitive to members of the
Detroit Fire Department.
"After a thorough investigation, it was determined that the
best course of action was to terminate the employment of this
probationary employee."
In a world where racial tensions run high, some tell me the trial
firefighter should have known better. Trout doesn't know if he meant
anything by it - but feels it was a bad choice.
"For sure by far it was,"
The question is did WFD take it too far?
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This rather interesting piece came from
Fox 2 out of Detroit Michigan and my
response was to
approve wholeheartedly the firing of this insensitive fire fighting
cracker! Any man with even a lick of sense knows that you do
not
ever bring 'color sensitive' foods to a mixed racial party! That
includes not only watermelon, but fried chicken and BBQ ribs! Had it been me, I
would have brought pickled eggs, a slab of sauerbraten and perhaps some pressed
duck! (All foods that are accepted by international convention and which are approved for all races).
