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Fire Water

Firefighter Michael Quinn, 43, was responding to a call in San Francisco, Calif., when the truck he was driving hit Michael Frazier’s motorcycle. Frazier was seriously injured. Instead of staying at the scene to submit to drug and alcohol tests as ordered, Quinn allegedly left and didn’t return to the station for several hours. During that time, surveillance video at a nearby bar shows Quinn guzzling large quantities of water. When Quinn finally returned to the station his blood alcohol content was tested at 0.13 percent, still well above the legal limit for driving. Because the department has a zero-tolerance on-duty drinking policy, Quinn was facing suspension, as was another firefighter who is alleged to have gone to the bar with him, and two of his superiors. But instead, he has resigned — and no criminal charges have been filed. “Could there have been other, perhaps better decisions that night?” asked Chief Joanne Hayes-White. “Yes.” (MS/San Francisco Chronicle) ...Could some better decisions be made by prosecutors? Yes.
Original Publication Date: 15 December 2013
This story is in True’s book collections, in Volume 20.

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