Two Aurora firefighters — a lieutenant and an engineer — have been demoted over a bizarre incident in which the firefighters are accused of using their fire engine spotlights to blind an Aurora police officer as he drove toward the truck in his patrol car, forcing the police vehicle off the road to avoid a crash in a bizarre game resembling “chicken,” CBS News Colorado has learned.
According to CBS News sources and fire department records, Aurora Police Sgt. Tony Spano was leaving the city’s south satellite facilities near the intersection of East Hampden Avenue and Dawson Street in a marked police car at about 7 p.m. on Feb. 25. Spano declined an interview request from CBS News Colorado. A source familiar with what occurred said that as Spano left the yard, heading west on an access road, an Aurora Fire Rescue engine truck approached him heading east.
On board the fire department engine were Lt. John Casessa and Engineer Ryan Endly. According to disciplinary documents in the case, which were completed last month, the fire engine “spotlighted an APD patrol vehicle without justification and entered the patrol vehicle’s lane of travel, causing the APD officer to drive onto the shoulder to avoid a collision.” Nobody was injured and the APD vehicle was not damaged.
Sources familiar with the incident say the bizarre occurrence was recorded by a surveillance camera at an Aurora water treatment plant adjacent to the road. The city of Aurora has refused to release the video or any written reports requested by CBS Colorado, saying this was a”personnel file” issue…