San Jose Fire Department's chief apologized and recommends discipline for some crewmembers after video surfaced five months ago showing a bikini-clad woman walking out of a firetruck and into a strip club.
The chief outlined the details in a memo obtained by NBC Bay Area on Monday after months of pushing for answers since the viral video was posted online.
In his final memo to city leaders about the incident, SJFD Chief Robert Sapien Jr. said "the conduct by firefighters constituted violation of specific policies and procedures and rules and regulations. Based on this determination and consistent with city and department procedures, the fire chief forwarded a recommendation for disciplinary action to the city manager."
The video shows a woman climbing down from fire engine No. 4 and walking into the Pink Poodle strip club.
"The first reaction people have is disappointment," said Steven Clark, a legal analyst. "How can this occur on city time?"
The last line in the chief's memo surprised many former city leaders NBC Bay Area spoke to for this story -- all said the final call on discipline of his troops belongs to the chief, not the city manager.
"You have to wonder why the chief is deferring to the city manager in this situation," Clark said.
This, however, is all we may ever know about what disciplinary action was taken. The memo said employee personnel information is private and that the city will not elaborate further.
Clark said there has to be a better balance between transparency and employee rights.
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"The incident occurred on city time and it was tax payers' dollars that were involved," Clark said. "I think people are understandably upset that they're being told it's none of your business what occurred here, and how we disciplined these individuals."
In the memo, the fire chief also apologized to the city, city leaders, employees, families and friends. The chief said the actions in the video "appeared seriously misaligned with the department's mission and values and were highly detrimental to the confidence and trust of our community and our workforce."
The chief said the department will reinforce standards of conduct across the department to prevent this from happening again.
"It appears that the city wants to put this wayward firetruck incident in the rear view mirror," Clark said.
