The Boston Globe and firefighter autopsies

In what I though was an excellent and brave call, the Boston Globe led the paper today with leaked autopsy results about two firefighters who were killed last week.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/10/04/autopsies_find_alcohol_some_cocaine_2_officials_say/

One was incredibly drunk, the other had cocaine in his system.

If you want to see the dichotomy between what some people believe is news and what other believe should be buried with the dead, take a look at some of the comments.

http://boards.boston.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=1&nav=messages&webtag=bc-news&tid=20152

 

They were talking about this on Tood Feinberg today. The reaction from the callers was mixed.

 

No way in the hell these two should have been drinking/doing drugs on the job. There's a good chance they eventually would have been caught and fired had they not died on duty. But the guy who posted this response on that site is a complete idiot:

"truth is, most firefighters don't do much other than drink, party at the union hall and then collect their paychecks - or maybe stand around outside the station socializing and checking out the girls that walk by."

 

Billy T,
Thanks for posting this.
The comments remind me of pretty much every conversation I have with local FFs once a week at our neighborhood bar. Everyone ends up angry -- me in tears, the guys pouncing off. A whole group of them went up for the Boston funerals, and all I knew about the fires before this was what they told me: FFs went into a Chinese restaurant, floors collapsed, two died, others injured, restaurant 's fault.
Wow. To read the other side ...
I'm reluctant to bring up the autopsy reports, but eventually I will, and I know most but not all will agree with many of the Boston posters: Leave the dead alone, it's not our business, they were heroes, etc.
It stuns me that they don't understand they are public servants and should be required to work under certain public standards, but beyond that, if they are stoned or drunk, they are putting their brothers in danger.
Those last few words -- putting your brother in danger -- are the only things that make them kind of sort of agree with me.
At least in NY, the FDNY union agrees a FF who tests positive for drugs or alcohol gets suspended, and I believe they started having random tests after 9/11. Maybe Boston will come around because of this.

 

It ran in both Boston papers on the same day.
Somebody wanted those results out badly.

 

Maybe I'm cold-blooded, but where is the problem with the story? One was drunk. One was high. They should not have been fighting a fire.
If it had been a bus driver and he'd crashed, their results would've been made public. If it had been you and you screwed up like that, unless you personally know the ME, those results would've been public.
One reason why it had to be released was because the city didn't want to be liable in any lawsuit. Their condition also gets the Chinese restaurant off the hook.

 

Dear firefighter's mom,
Yes, it's the paper's fault the firemen were drunk/high. We won't print news like this again.
Your son is a saint.
Now STFU...

 

Reading those comments, it never ceases to amaze me how a large segment of the population has no idea about the responsibilities of the media. If people want to be mad at someone, be mad at whoever leaked the info. How can anyone expect a news organization not to run a story like this? It's really baffling, and a little bit troubling, when you really think about it.

 

I was listening to WBZ last night while driving towards Syracuse.
They had one of the Globe reporters who worked on the story on the air.
He said they don't know if it was a preliminary or final report, they've not actually seen any paper and only got one anonymous source.
I have a big problem that they went with the story with such flimsy legs to stand on.

 

Flimsy best describes the legs the firefighters were on Mark.

 

But that's the point. No one knows for sure that that was the case.
How could someone with a .027 function like running into a building?
This is one story that could rip the Globe apart if it's proven untrue.

 

What an asshole. You know any mothers who have sons or daughters that are firefighters? Regardless of the condition of the two that died, why would you even think to pile on the loved ones. Is that part of being a good journalist? Again, what an asshole.