Florida firefighter goes from top to almost out the door – long series of problems highlighted
Last year, Melbourne, Florida Firefighter Allan Reyna was picked as the department’s top firefighter for one quarter. Now Reyna is making news with his suspension and possible termination after a February incident at a nursing home. It turns out to be one of a long series of problems for the 43-year-old firefighter during his more than 20-year career with the department. Reyna’s bosses said the firefighter suffers from a “serious lack of judgment and self-control.”
In the latest incident, witnesses said Reyna turned up at Avante, a nursing home, and put in an oxygen cylinder to help the patient breathe and slammed the other tank into a nearby bed without looking.
Click here if the video above fails to play
That tank – which fell to the floor twice – struck another patient in the lower extremity, prompting the patient to yell out. One witness said Reyna used an expletive during an angry exchange with the nursing staff to remove the tank.
Other complaints have also surfaced against the firefighter, including one Nov. 2015 incident in which witnesses said Reyna questioned a doctor’s treatment for a patient in front of the patient’s spouse.
Officials said Reyna was suspended and demoted from being a driver a year ago after he took a fire truck and drove it to a barbecue at his girlfriend’s house while on duty.
About a year before that, Reyna was suspended because, while waiting for a plane with mechanical issues to land, he drove out onto an active runway for the wrong plane, which is a Federal Aviation Administration violation.
In January of 2013, while in charge of another station across town, Reyna was issued a written reprimand for taking his crew away from the station to go golfing.
