In all his years as fire chief, Tommy McDowell has never seen anything like this. "As fire chief, I want to put out fires." Just not a fire like this one. McDowell says a Captain at the Pleasantburg fire station in Greenville found a noose outside the station two weeks ago. The loosely tied piece of rope was laying in the leaves of a tree. McDowell says, "It upset him enough that he immediately went into the station and started to question people."
The questions turned up few answers. The battalion commander, an African American, was so shaken that he called McDowell immediately. Unsure whether one of his firefighters was to blame, the Chief turned the case over to Greenville Police. "Regardless of whether it is an employee of the fire department or not, I take it very seriously," says McDowell.
Unfortunately, a key piece of evidence that could crack the case is missing. Chief McDowell says the noose was put in the trash can immediately after it was found. When he sent his men back to retrieve it, it was gone. Now, he wants to know if that was intentional. "That's another piece of the puzzle."
McDowell says during his tenure, he's had two other racial incidents within the department, where people were disciplined. Whether this was racially motivated, or just a joke, he doesn't know. But he's not laughing. Now, the Chief wants justice and hopefully a quick resolution. "This is not something I intend to tolerate."
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