ORLANDO, Fla.,None — An Orlando District fire chief is being investigated for some bad behavior. Eyewitnesses told WFTV that Chief Jerry Keith appeared to be drunk while working a city event at a local restaurant. It was so bad, a customer complained and called police.
An employee of Gino's Pizza on Orange Avenue downtown said someone called the police because district Chief Keith appeared to be drunk. When police arrived, Keith had already returned to his post two blocks down at City Hall.
Gino's has security cameras, but it's not known whether they recorded Orlando Fire District Chief Jerry Keith last month when he was working off-duty for a city-sponsored Sister Hazel concert at City Hall. An employee who was there that Saturday afternoon said it was obvious that Keith was drunk.
The city has kept it quiet, but Monday WFTV asked fire Chief John Miller about it.
"There was a citizen complaint and, at that time, he was taken from that off-duty event and it's under investigation at this time," Miller said.
"What was the complaint?" WFTV reporter Kathi Belich asked Miller.
"The complaint was he was behaving inappropriately," Miller answered.
Keith was the one who told WFTV about his department's dramatic rescue last year of a construction worker stuck for hours inside the ceiling of Lake Nona High School. But he's been off the job on personal leave for the last month. He's used up 144 hours so far and he does not take a city vehicle home, but drives one on the job.
A fire department insider told WFTV that Keith's supervisor took him back to Fire Station 1 downtown to sleep it off.
"That's what I was advised and that's under investigation. He was removed from that situation and it's being investigated at this time," Miller said.
WFTV was also told that soon after Chief Keith was taken back to the fire station to sleep it off he disappeared.
WFTV was told Keith is a 25-year veteran, well-respected and loves his job, but that he's battling fires in his personal life right now.
WFTV
