9 Investigates: Firefighter involved in possible drunken boating crash driven home by colleague

9 Investigates discovered at least one on-duty Seminole County firefighter broke protocol after a boating accident involving two off-duty firefighters who may have been drunk.

The crash is at the center of a criminal investigation.

Investigative reporter Karla Ray found out one of the men on the boat on Prairie Lake in Casselberry on the night of May 6 got a personal ride home from an on-duty firefighter.

One of the off-duty officers involved in the accident had to be taken to the hospital, while the other was taken home by an on-duty firefighter working nearby, which is against county policy.

Steven Stiver and Brett Leftwich, both 48, crashed the boat into a dock, investigators said.

“Caller advising boat crash into a dock, man unconscious, it's about 15 feet offshore. There are two men on the boat. One appears to be ETOH and very belligerent,” a 911 dispatcher said the night of the crash.

ETOH is the medical term for alcohol.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is investigating a possible criminal case for boating under the influence and both men who were on board are still working while under internal investigation.

But one of their own on-duty colleagues handling the call broke county policy by giving one of them a ride home on the taxpayers dime.

Even though no one else has received any discipline related to the incident, the on-duty supervisor at Station 22 was given a verbal reprimand even though he wasn't the one who gave the ride.

He stated in an email he was told to resign or be terminated.

County leaders won't say why, but insist that separation was not related to what happened on the lake.

Another on-duty firefighter took the boat involved in the crash across the lake to a home at the boat owner's request.

Fire officials said although it's not typical, they say it helped prevent any further hazard in the water.

Cox Media Group