EMS boss from LI accused of firing BB gun at workers

BY JOSEPH MALLIA | joseph.mallia@newsday.com

8:46 AM EST, February 25, 2009

An Island Park man employed as a lieutenant with the New York City Fire Department's emergency medical services unit was arrested Tuesday after he fired a BB gun at subordinates at his Brooklyn EMS station, city officials said.

Leonard Tiberi, 38, was released on a desk appearance ticket and is scheduled to appear in Brooklyn Criminal Court on April 1 on charges of prohibited use of a weapon, reckless endangerment and criminal mischief, police said.

The arrest by the city Department of Investigation came after a complaint from the FDNY saying Tiberi aimed and shot BB pellets at subordinates on Feb. 9 inside EMS Station 58, at 420 E. 83rd St.

Investigators also found that Tiberi shot at walls and boxes at the station, making holes in the walls.

There were no reported injuries, the DOI said.

"Deliberately firing a weapon in the workplace is not only a dangerous and foolish act but, as this arrest shows, it is also criminal," DOI Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn said in a statement.

"Any city employee who engages in this type of illegal conduct and compromises safety can expect to be arrested and prosecuted."

Tiberi has worked for the EMS division of the FDNY since March 1996, earning an annual salary of $55,930, authorities said.

The office of Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes is prosecuting the case.

The criminal charges against Tiberi are class A misdemeanors that carry a maximum 1-year jail sentence. Tiberi also faces a city administrative code charge of selling or possessing air pistols and air rifles, a violation punishable by a $50 fine and up to 30 days in jail