An investigation is under way into allegations that a young man was tied to a hose tower and pushed around as part of an initiation into the Deale Volunteer Fire Department last spring.
The county Fire Department was made aware of the incident in late April and immediately contacted county police, the fire marshal and the department's internal affairs bureau, said Battalion Chief Matthew Tobia, a county Fire Department spokesman.
Police interviewed volunteers at the station, at 6000 Drum Point Road, and determined there had been some form of hazing done to the 19-year-old Churchton man, who asked not to be named. His family has hired a lawyer, who requested they not speak about the incident until next week.
"There was some type of horseplay - a hazing type of thing," said Sgt. John Gilmer, a county police spokesman. "There was pushing around and wrestling. The way it was described to me, there was one incident where the young man was tied up to a portion of a hose tower as a joke. The volunteer chief was in the building and was aware of it."
The findings were sent to the State's Attorney's Office, which recently ruled the incident "an administrative case" and found no criminal misconduct. This ended the police department's investigation into the case, Sgt. Gilmer said.
At this point, the case is under internal review by the county Fire Department to see if any department policies or procedures were violated and if disciplinary action should be taken against the involved volunteers, Chief Tobia said.
"This involves only the Deale Volunteer Fire Department and its members - not paid firefighters," he said. "If the allegations are true and it's found policies were violated, the volunteers will be disciplined."
Disciplinary actions could range from counseling to dismissal or permanent removal of a firefighter from the volunteer database, Chief Tobia said.
Chief David L. Stokes is scheduled to meet with leaders of the Deale department in the next couple of weeks to discuss the findings of the internal investigation.
Gayle Moreland, vice president of the volunteer fire department, said the board of directors has met about the issue and are fully cooperating with investigators. Leaders of Deale Volunteer Fire Department would not comment further until a decision is made.
