The FDNY has subpoenaed a battalion chief’s cellphone records in an attempt to find out whether he leaked negative stories to The New York Post, court papers revealed Friday.
Rory Houton, a battalion chief in the FDNY Bureau of Personnel, got a letter from Verizon on May 1, 2014, alerting him that the department was trying to subpoena his cellphone records, according to the chief’s Brooklyn Supreme Court lawsuit that seeks to quash the subpoena.
The FDNY told Houton’s lawyer it wanted the records to sniff out who had leaked two stories to The Post.
The first was about a female FDNY probie who was allowed to graduate from the Fire Academy without passing a required running test.
The second was about a firefighter who failed a drug test and was barred from driving department vehicles.
“The FDNY’s investigation is improper as it is a fishing expedition that seeks [to] restrict [Houton’s] freedom of expression under the First Amendmen of the Constitution,” the suit states.
Veteran firefighter Elizabeth Osgood blasted the FDNY in March when she was denied a promotion because she spoke to The Post about the female probie who failed the running test.
An FDNY spokesman referred a request for comment to the city Law Department, where a spokeswoman said the FDNY has the authority to issue subpoenas.Josh Saul