DC probie at center of failure to help dying man has been fired

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The Washington Post’s Amy Brittain and Peter Hermann are reporting that DC Fire & EMS Department Firefighter Remy Jones has been fired. Jones became a firefighter through the city’s high school cadet program and was in his probationary period last January when he failed to follow proper procedures after citizens reported that there was a man down across the street from a Northeast Washington firehouse. That man, Medric “Cecil” Mills Jr, died.

According to Brittain and Hermann, Jones was fired not because of the Mills case, but for repeated absences during remedial training. That training was ordered after the January 25 incident at the quarters of Engine 26 & Truck 15.

While his mistakes were not specifically cited in the investigative report authored by Deputy Mayor Paul Quander, it was clear that Firefighter Jones failed to immediately sound the house bells to alert firefighters to respond to the walk-in report. That was the first in a series of errors that kept firefighters from immediately responding to assist Mills. Quander’s report also failed to look at the training of Firefighter Jones and address the issue of why he was unaware of what to do when a citizen shows up at the firehouse to report an emergency nearby. Amy Brittain previously looked at training and other issues with the high school cadet program during the administration of Chief Kenneth Ellerbe.

Amy Brittain & Peter Hermann, The Washington Post:

New fire chief Eugene A. Jones, who has no relation to the firefighter, said he believed Jones was the “least culpable” among the group of five firefighters who were there that day. In September, Remy Jones was suspended without pay for 24 hours and ordered to undergo remedial training.