Al Sharpton-founded group pursues $5 million penalty in Atlantic City firehouse case
By ERIC SCOTT CAMPBELL Staff Writer, 609-272-7227 | Posted: Monday, August 10, 2009 | 18 comments
ATLANTIC CITY - The National Action Network intends to sue the city government for $5 million and tell state Attorney General Anne Milgram who was involved in an alleged May 15 firehouse incident.
The group is seeking damages on behalf of four alleged female victims, said Steve Young, local president of the network founded by Al Sharpton. He said he will hand-deliver to Milgram a copy of the legal claim this morning, as well as the names of firefighters the group accuses of...Continue Reading
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either sexual misconduct or failure to intervene to stop it.
Young and group Vice President Gordon Sunkett have questioned what they see as a lack of progress in investigating the allegations. Mayor Lorenzo Langford and fire Chief Dennis Brooks have confirmed there is an investigation, but neither has given details.
Brooks could not be reached for comment Sunday.
Young and Sunkett addressed reporters Sunday after noon in front of about 25 supporters and the firehouse in question, Fire Station No. 2 at Indiana and Baltic avenues. A police officer leaned against a corner of the station, watching the crowd.
According to the group's allegations, several firefighters coaxed the young women into the station, slapped one and persuaded another to expose herself, while one firefighter exposed himself and had the girls touch him. Sunkett also said the women were not properly registered in the visitors' log book.
"We want (the victims) to know, from the community, that we will stand with them," City Councilman Steven Moore said.
Young has said two of the victims are 16, but he has not given the ages of the others, although they have all been described as "girls," not women. The group retained a Philadelphia-based, personal-injury law firm, Saltz Mongeluzzi Barrett and Bendesky, to file the claim, Young said Sunday.
Asked how solid the information is, Moore said silence from authorities gives credence to the allegations.
"If it had been a situation where there were no charges or anything, I think we would have heard that," Moore said.
Sunkett said at a previous news conference that the group would approach Milgram if no firefighters were charged by Sunday.
"Everybody that was on duty that night is responsible," Sunkett said. He claimed that firefighters escorted the four young women into the fire station without registering their presence in the log book.
The group is not pursuing criminal charges in Atlantic County, Sunkett said, because "Ted Housel can't be trusted."
Housel could not be reached for comment.
E-mail Eric Scott Campbell: ECampbell@pressofac.com
Posted in Breaking, Atlantic_city on Monday, August 10, 2009 7:45 am Updated: 8:18 am. | Tags: Atlantic City, National Action Network, Al Sharpton, Sexual Misconduct, Firemen, Firefighters
