Posted on 11/01/2001 4:49:38 AM PST by wysiwyg
For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.Oct. 31, 2001, 3:54PM
Judge refuses to toss suit by ambulance driver fired after doughnut stop
By ROSANNA RUIZ
Copyright 2001 Houston Chronicle
A federal judge has denied the city of Houston's request to throw out a lawsuit filed by a former ambulance driver fired after he stopped for doughnuts while transporting a patient to a hospital.
U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal granted Larry Wesley 30 days to amend his employment discrimination suit, which he filed in May.
Wesley must amend his suit to redefine his discrimination case and name the city as the defendant, instead of the fire department, because the department can not be sued as an independent entity, court documents say.
The ruling, however, was not entirely in Wesley's favor. Rosenthal dismissed Wesley's claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress because state law protects municipalities from such claims.
Ray Shackelford, Wesley's attorney, said the fire department treated his client unfairly because of his race.
"The manner in which he was handled is different from the way non-black drivers and firefighters are handled," Shackelford said.
In his suit, Wesley claims that other EMS drivers caught making unscheduled stops either were not fired or were later reinstated.
Carole Snyder, an assistant city attorney who will represent the city in the case, declined to comment about Wesley's suit or Rosenthal's ruling.
Wesley, who was assigned to Fire Station 35 off Martin Luther King Boulevard, was taking an injured youth to Ben Taub Hospital on July 10, 2000, when he stopped for doughnuts.
The boy's mother filed a complaint that led then-Fire Chief Lester Tyra to fire Wesley, a 20-year department veteran. The Firefighters' and Police Officers' Civil Service Commission upheld Wesley's firing, and Wesley did not appeal the decision.
Two other Houston firefighters were fired on similar grounds in February, when they delivered groceries at a northeast fire station with a patient aboard their ambulance.
The firefighters, Leonard Robinson and John Englehardt, have since been reinstated, said District Chief Jack Williams.
No, he didn't. That was the incident referred to in post 39. This kid did not die. He didn't even palpitate. Never was any danger.
Did you even bother to read my responses 37, 38 and 39 to you where I said it was all over talk radio for a couple of weeks?
You beat me to it.
The proper form of the verb would be "were" fired, not "was" fired. And "employee" should be plural.
Your English is as bad as your reading skills.
The article states that they did.
Isn't that part of their union contract?
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