SAN FRANCISCO / Firefighter charged after run-in with female officer / He reportedly tested positive for drugs and resisted arrest

SAN FRANCISCO / Firefighter charged after run-in with female officer / He reportedly tested positive for drugs and resisted arrest:

SAN FRANCISCO
Firefighter charged after run-in with female officer

He reportedly tested positive for drugs and resisted arrest

Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer

Friday, April 27, 2007

A San Francisco firefighter faces charges of assault, resisting arrest and driving under the influence of drugs after allegedly threatening and driving away from a female police officer he initially mistook as another member of the city's Fire Department.

"You f -- women firefighters can't even use your radio," Daniel Kelly, 46, yelled at San Francisco police Sgt. Denise Fabbri, according to a misdemeanor warrant supporting his arrest this month in the incident earlier this year.

Kelly, who police say was in uniform and claimed to have been on his way to work at the time, was eventually taken into custody, and a blood test showed he had been using cocaine and methamphetamine.

The Jan. 5 arrest follows a series of incidents involving allegedly intoxicated firefighters that led the San Francisco Fire Department to impose random drug and alcohol screening. Critics say the department's policies are still too lenient.

The random drug testing began after several firefighters were found to have been drinking on duty. The department's second in command, Deputy Chief Fred Sanchez, was forced to retire in April 2005 in the face of allegations he had allowed a drunken firefighter to return to duty.

Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White said the department takes all such incidents seriously, whether on or off duty. Despite Kelly's claims at the time, she said, he was not headed to work Jan. 5 and had called in sick Jan. 2, the last day he was scheduled to work prior to the incident. She said he has since gone on disability leave.

"It is my understanding he was not on duty, nor was he headed to work," she said. "This is off-duty conduct -- it's obviously unprofessional and totally inappropriate."

Kelly, a 20-year veteran of the department from Alamo, was arraigned earlier this month on the misdemeanor charges. His lawyer, Gerald Wood, declined comment.

According to court documents and police reports, Kelly had pulled over his Ford Expedition sport utility vehicle in the middle of a crosswalk the morning of Jan. 5 when he was spotted by Fabbri.

Kelly then opened his door, and Fabbri saw his foot hang out. Fabbri, fearing a medical emergency, approached and asked how he was doing. Kelly looked out and said he was "f -- sleeping.''

Fabbri told Kelly to shut off the engine and get out of the SUV, but Kelly jumped out, pointing his finger at Fabbri, and challenged her. She called for backup on the radio.

''You don't even know how to use your radio,'' he allegedly said. "You f -- women firefighters can't even use your radio.' ''

Fabbri displayed her Police Department star and said she was a police officer, not a firefighter. Kelly ignored her commands to back away and cocked his arm, as if to assault her, according to the arrest warrant. Fabbri ordered Kelly to back away, saying she would have to shoot him, but he continued challenging her.

After an onlooker called out -- "what are you doing to her?'' -- Kelly stopped and returned to his SUV, ignoring Fabbri's order not to leave, and sped off.

Fabbri alerted dispatch and soon thereafter spotted Kelly again as he flagged a cab in the area. Fabbri followed the cab into a restaurant parking lot at Lombard and Steiner streets. At the lot, Kelly climbed back in his SUV, but was blocked in by the cab and Fabbri's unmarked police car. Kelly exited his vehicle and briefly approached Fabbri's car, but she mouthed: "Don't do it. Don't do it.''

He then got back into the cab, then got out again, while Fabbri watched and waited for backup. Her husband, Carl Fabbri, also an SFPD sergeant, arrived, showed Kelly his star and ordered him to surrender.

A "disheveled, unshaven and confused'' Kelly ignored the order and started to jog toward a fire station, the warrant said. "I'm a firefighter, I'm on my way to work, what did I do?'' He showed his firefighter badge as he continued heading away, but eventually he was taken down to the ground by Carl Fabbri and arrested.

Kelly told police he had been drinking to about 2 a.m. the night before and apologized, saying he was going through a divorce.

Police soon learned he had been driving on a suspended license for an earlier DUI case. "I don't even know what happened,'' he said, according to the arrest warrant. "I must have blacked out.''

Kelly told police he mistook the police sergeant for someone from the Fire Department's training division "just f -- with me until I saw she was wearing a gun,'' according to the warrant.

He said he had been drinking "quite a bit'' of beer and whiskey the night before in the Marina. He failed a field sobriety test, then agreed to a blood test. There was no alcohol detected in his blood, but he tested positive for cocaine and methamphetamine.

Authorities could not explain why someone who claimed to have been drinking heavily that morning would have no alcohol in his blood.

According to the charges, Kelly's license had been suspended in June 2002. Records show that he had been arrested in January 2001 in Sierra County for driving under the influence, as well as an incident of drunken driving in August 1996.

Hayes-White said she was concerned about the drug use and the comments Kelly allegedly made toward a woman he thought was a firefighter.

"We have an investigation under way, but we have not filed any charges,'' Hayes-White said. "At this point, it's something we are keeping a watchful eye on. I have huge concerns about the whole issue.'