MARION COUNTY, Fla. — The victim of an alleged violent hazing incident at a Marion County fire station is now on paid administrative leave.
Investigators say Kayne Stuart, 19, was beat with a belt, dragged across the parking lot, and waterboarded three times at Station 21, located at Southwest 90th Street.
Stuart’s attorney, Geoff Bichler has put the county on notice for a lawsuit, starting a six-month clock for the county to investigate and potentially reach a settlement.
According to Bichler, Stuart had always wanted to be a firefighter and had been employed for less than a year as a probationary employee.
He was traveling between stations when he reported to work for a shift at Station 21 on November 16th.
“Being a probationary employee, I think, he had some expectation that there might be some kidding and joking and, you know, good-natured kind of horseplay, but never expecting something like this,” said Bichler.
In total four fire rescue employees involved in the alleged hazing were fired and now face charges including kidnapping, robbery and battery.
Six others were ousted including all of the station 21 leadership present that day.
Bichler told Channel 9 in his over 30 years representing first responders, he’s learned hazing is not uncommon.
The attorney told Channel 9 prior to Stuart’s shift on the 16th, Stuart had experienced some hazing that was “good-natured” and often took the form of practical jokes, but it was never aggressive.
“The problem here is obviously, it just went way too far, to the point that he actually was waterboarded and beaten with his own belt, and feared for his own life,” said Bichler.
According to Bichler, Stuart did not report the incident on the 16th to law enforcement, but instead told a friend who escalated the issue up the chain of command.
“It’s a cultural issue that I think needs to be addressed. It is being addressed. And maybe this is the thing or the case, that will ultimately bring this to a head as to what is acceptable in these types of situations,” said Bichler.
Text messages obtained by Channel 9 sent from Fire Chief James Banta show just one day after the arrests were announced, he “had a conversation with the Coral Springs Fire Chief” to discuss how they handled a similar incident.
The text messages show Banta later met with his deputy chiefs writing, “Probably be good for us all to be on the same page. We are going to start planning our way out of this mess.”
Channel 9 has repeatedly asked what that planning entailed, whether a culture of hazing exists at Marion County Fire Rescue, and about additional steps they’ve taken to prevent future hazing incidents.
However, the department has failed to respond to our repeated requests for comment.
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