Pressure at the Academy

[NJFFSA16]

LA firefighter trainee arrested after alleged workplace threat

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A Los Angeles Fire Department recruit,
apparently concerned that he was failing a training program, was
arrested after he allegedly threatened the lives of people at the
training academy, police said Friday.
Christopher Sooy, 38, was arrested Thursday and booked for
investigation of felony possession of destructive devices, said
Officer Jason Lee, a police spokesman. He was jailed in lieu of
$500,000 bail.
Authorities said they seized five semiautomatic handguns, two
revolvers, five military assault rifles, a shotgun, hundreds of
rounds of ammunition and a 4-inch pipe bomb from Sooy's San
Fernando Valley home. A police bomb squad detonated the pipe bomb.
Police said Sooy was failing the Los Angeles Fire Department
Training Academy's program when a fellow recruit asked him July 30
if he was about to be terminated.
"The suspect replied that he didn't know, but he made a
statement threatening lives at the academy if he were to be
terminated," Lee said.
The recruit reported the threat to academy officials who told
police.
The academy has since dismissed Sooy.

(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press

[Firefighter631]

Man, that could have really become an explosive situation.




Boukca, can you shed anymore light on this news.

[truckrescue]

This person had already been on the job as a single function paramedic, had work at a fire station in that position for a year. Then was sent to the fire academy to become a dual funtion firefighter.
This shows that there is a huge flaw in our hiring process for recruits. The city personnel office is the hiring enity and then the recommended people are passed on to the Fire Chief for hire.
Someone must of missed something in this guys background check (LAPD). Good thing that this happened in the drill tower and the fellow rookie had the nerve to pass it on. Could of been very messy.

[NJFFSA16]

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A city firefighter trainee pleaded innocent
Monday to threatening his workplace and keeping a 4-inch pipe bomb.
Christopher Sooy, 39, entered his plea in Superior Court to one
felony count each of making criminal threats and possessing a
destructive device. He was held in lieu of $100,000 bail.
A preliminary hearing was set for Sept. 3.
Sooy was arrested last Thursday at his San Fernando Valley home
after a pipe bomb was discovered and detonated by a police bomb
squad. Semiautomatic guns and ammunition also were found during the
serving of a search warrant.
Police said Sooy was failing the physical requirements of the
Los Angeles Fire Department's San Fernando Valley Training Academy
when he spoke with a fellow recruit on July 30. He allegedly made a
statement "threatening lives at the academy if he were to be
terminated," according to the Police Department.
Sooy was fired from the academy on Thursday and ordered to stay
away from the academy.

(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press