Salisbury Fire Department's sexual misconduct investigation closed

SALISBURY, N.C. — At Salisbury's Central Station on Friday, fire trucks rolled out as usual even though three firefighters were fired and one was suspended following an investigation into sexual misconduct.

The city of Salisbury told Eyewitness News in an email on Friday its investigation at the fire department is officially closed.
Three firefighters were terminated for sending and sharing an inappropriate photo.

Another firefighter, Shawn McBride, was demoted and suspended for five days without pay for not reporting the inappropriate activity.

McBride is also the fire chief at East Spencer. Channel 9 caught up with him Friday as he was walking into the fire station.
"I do not have any comments and if you need statement you need to talk to Mr. Sammons, the town administrator or Chief Bob Parnell about anything that happened at (the) Salisbury Fire Department," McBride said.

Eyewitness News went to see if Macon Sammons, the town administrator, and was told he wasn't in. Sammons didn't respond to an email request.

The Salisbury assistant city manager said Thursday that he would call with more information, but he did not.

Eyewitness News visited his office twice Friday. In the morning, Channel 9 was told he was in a meeting. In the afternoon, Channel 9 was told he was not in.

Eyewitness News did receive an email statement from Fire Chief Bob Parnell. The fire department and Human Resources will review the 2011 incident of misconduct to determine if changes made were ineffective.

They will also review best practices of other agencies and created a zero tolerance policy.

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