Internal records from the San Jose Fire Department are shedding new light on a stunning video that surfaced last month showing a bikini-clad woman climb out of a fire engine and walk into the Pink Poodle, a well-known strip club in town.
The social media video immediately sparked controversy and prompted an internal investigation. The department’s union said at the time it “does not condone what was seen on video,” and Mayor Sam Liccardo promised accountability if the investigation revealed misconduct.
“If the investigation concludes that this video is as bad as it looks, then heads must roll,” Liccardo said right after the incident. “We cannot have a life-critical emergency rescue apparatus relegated to a frat party bus, nor tolerate any conduct that so demeans the heroic work of the rest of our SJFD team.”
Since then, however, San Jose officials have remained silent on the probe, prompting NBC Bay Area to file a public records request with the city seeking answers.
Among the revelations in the records turned over so far to the Investigative Unit: There was never a call for service at the Pink Poodle that night requiring a response from Station 4 firefighters, according to department dispatch records, raising further questions about what the engine was doing there and why the woman was in the truck to begin with.
While there’s no timestamp on the social media video that sparked the controversy, GPS data turned over to NBC Bay Area suggest Engine 4 stopped in front of the Pink Poodle around 9:06 p.m. Oct. 5. According to the data, the engine then appears to circle the block slowly before returning to the Pink Poodle around 9:10 p.m.
By 9:14 p.m., Engine 4’s GPS pings approximately two miles away, with the engine stopped in the vicinity AJ’s bikini bar on Lincoln Avenue. GPS data shows the engine parked there for about four more minutes before driving away.
In a short statement provided Tuesday, the city would only say the incident remains under investigation, declining to comment on the records obtained by NBC Bay Area.
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Retired fire Capt. Richard Santos said the slow progress of the investigation has been frustrating.
“The longer you wait, it hurts everybody who’d like to have this behind us, because the men and women of the San Jose Fire Department deserve better," the 33-year department veteran said. “If there was an error in judgment, so be it. We gotta deal with it. But it doesn’t take away from the 100% they give every day to the citizens of the city of San Jose.”
Those records also include text messages sent to and from San Jose fire Chief Robert Sapien Jr., which show city officials scrambling to come up with messaging after the video began circulating.
In one message, Liccardo texts Sapien informing him of an inquiry into the video he received from NBC Bay Area reporter Damian Trujillo.
In response, Sapien tells the mayor, “I have directed the BC to lock down units to strictly emergency response through the evening,” and then, “I will be initiating an investigation first thing in the AM.”
In a separate text, a fire department spokesperson tells the chief they spoke to someone tied to the mayor’s office about potentially toning down Liccardo’s public statement.
“I talked to [her] about not assuming guilt and ‘heads must roll and frat party’ language being picked up as headlines that would reflect more negatively on the dept than necessary,” the spokesperson writes before following up with another message saying that the mayor wasn’t going to budge on his statement.
Some of the chief’s text messages, however, were redacted without explanation before being turned over to NBC Bay Area.
NBC Bay Area also requested emails sent to and from Chief Sapien directly after the video surfaced, but the city has yet to turn over the records.
The city also declined to release the names of the firefighters on duty at Station 4 that night, citing the ongoing investigation.
NBC Bay Area will continue reporting on the investigation as new records become available.
