District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department
In June 2015, Jullette M. Saussy was named the medical director of DC Fire and EMS. On January 29, 2016, she announced her resignation from that position in a letter to Mayor Muriel Bowser. In her letter, she called the department's culture "highly toxic to the delivery of any semblance of quality pre-hospital medical care."
History of the District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department
Two more incidents occurred in April 2012. The first involved Ellerbe's demotion of Battalion Chief Richard Sterne to the rank of captain on April 8. Two firefighters and a lieutenant in a station in Northeast D.C. had accepted a case of beer from a grateful local resident. Ellerbe requested the men be suspended. Sterne discovered that the men had rejected the gift, but the resident left it behind anyway. When Sterne reprimanded the two firefighters rather than suspended them, Ellerbe issued the demotion and cited the disciplinary hearing as the reason. "Your failure to hold the members accountable for their receipt of the beer in violation of the Rules of Conduct brings into question your ability to exercise proper judgment in the performance of your assigned duties," he wrote. Sterne filed an appeal with the D.C. Office of Employee Appeals. The second incident involved the transfer of Battalion Chief Kevin Sloan. Sloan ruled that the lieutenant in the case was not guilty, as he was not present when the gift was delivered. Ellerbe subsequently transferred Sloan from active duty to a desk job in April 2012, although he gave no reason for the transfer. Sloan called the action retaliatory and said Ellerbe engaged in "workplace bullying". Sloan, too, filed an appeal.