Former Wantagh fire medic got $500,000 to settle claims that 2 department officers raped her
The fire department and the two men "continue to deny all of the allegations" and do not admit "any wrongdoing or liability," according to the agreement. Credit: Newsday/Howard Schnapp
The former Wantagh Fire Department volunteer medic who accused a chief and a captain of getting her drunk and raping her at a firehouse party dropped her lawsuit in a deal that paid her $500,000.
The fire department and the two men "continue to deny all of the allegations" and do not admit "any wrongdoing or liability," according to the agreement obtained by Newsday.
The settlement called for "WFD’s insurance company" to make the payment to the woman. The insurance company is not identified.
Wantagh Fire District Superintendent Brendan Narell, who signed the 12-page document on behalf of the department, did not return a message seeking comment. The fire district has a taxpayer-funded $8.6 million annual budget.
WHAT NEWSDAY FOUND
- A former Wantagh Fire Department volunteer medic agreed to drop her lawsuit accusing a chief and a captain of rape in a deal that paid her $500,000.
- The fire department and the two men "continue to deny all of the allegations," according to the agreement.
- The settlement called for the fire department's unidentified insurance company to make the payment to the woman.
An attorney for the fire department provided Newsday with an unredacted copy of the 12-page agreement via certified mail this week after a Nassau judge rejected a request by the two men to keep the deal a secret.
Newsday submitted a request for the settlement papers in June under the state’s public records law.
Newsday is not identifying the two men because they have not been charged with a crime nor the woman because she alleges she is the victim of a sexual assault.
A fire department official said in court papers the men were removed as volunteer members when they declined to cooperate with its internal investigation into the woman’s allegations.
The woman is no longer a member of the fire department, according to Vess Mitev, her Stony Brook lawyer.
"The lawsuit and its settlement represent a brave and deliberate act by my client to ensure that similar circumstances would not befall others like her," Mitev said, while acknowledging that the settlement "admits no fault on either side."
The men argued against the document's release, calling it an invasion of personal privacy and expressing concern they would face "public harassment and scorn."
Acting State Supreme Court Justice Anna Grimaldi in Nassau County dismissed their claims, saying, "They fail to submit factual support to establish that disclosure would result in economic or personal hardship."
The men dropped their counterclaims of libel and slander against the woman as part of the agreement. One of their attorneys, Michael Cassell, in trying to keep the department from releasing the deal, argued that the men were promised confidentiality in return for dropping those claims.
But the judge said public agencies, such as a fire department, cannot "immunize" settlements from public records laws by calling them confidential.
Cassell did not respond to a message seeking comment.
Thomas Foley, the attorney for the other man, declined to comment.
Curt Varone, a 50-year firefighter in Rhode Island who also is an attorney, tracks fire department litigation cases worldwide. He said in an interview that sexual assault and alcohol are among the most common claims in the thousands of cases in his database.
Varone believes volunteer fire departments struggle to spot troubling warning signs in members’ behavior because of the pressure of recruiting members, and added that the use of alcohol on site leads to increased liability.
"Most firefighters think our biggest liability is if we don’t get to somebody’s house fast enough, or we screw up on a medical run or car wrecks or different things," Varone said. "Our biggest liability is the behavior of our firefighters. Their HR issues are our biggest liability."
The agreement, which states the parties "reached an agreement to compromise, settle and resolve the lawsuit," also included a non-disparagement clause and bars the woman from filing any other lawsuit against the fire department or the men pertaining to these allegations.
Reached a year ago following mediation, the settlement ended years of litigation.
The woman alleged in the lawsuit that the captain and the chief plied her with alcohol and sexually assaulted her at a January 2022 party celebrating one of their birthdays. She said in the lawsuit that she reported the incident to the fire department, which said it launched an investigation. Her lawyer said she never filed a police report.
The fire department confirmed last month the two men are no longer members.
Jim Baumbach is an award-winning investigative reporter at Newsday, where he has worked since 1998. He spent two decades in the sports department, where he covered every professional team and league, including events such as the Super Bowl and World Series.
