Chief, Report on Fire Video Contradictory

Despite Los Angeles City Fire Chief Donald O. Manning’s recent public statements that a video of female recruits making mistakes was an innocent compilation of bloopers, his own internal investigation concluded last month that the tape’s purpose ultimately became protecting the department from sexual harassment complaints and lawsuits by trainees who allegedly were performing poorly.

In interviews and testimony before the Fire Commission, Manning also insisted that Capt. Steve Owens was solely responsible for producing and editing the tape. But, according to the internal investigation report obtained by The Times, Owens was ordered to make the video by his boss, Capt. Donald M. Carter, who supervised the training academy when the footage was shot last year.

“Capt. Carter stated he wanted the footage of the identified recruits performing poorly in order to protect the training staff, and ultimately the department, from the threat of future litigation,” said the seven-page investigative report, completed Nov. 23. “He directed Capt. Owens to extract excerpts of videotape of recruits identified as borderline performers or facing potential termination.”

The investigation further revealed that copies of the video, which was originally intended to be humorous, were distributed by Carter to his training staff, who were instructed to save them at home for documentation against potential lawsuits.

Department officials suggested that Manning may not have been aware of all the events surrounding the tape’s production when he made earlier statements describing the investigation’s conclusions.

But city officials who had read the report said Monday that the contradictions between Manning’s public statements and the probe’s findings raise serious questions about whether the chief has been candid in his explanations of the affair, which has generated nationwide publicity.

“This speaks to the very credibility of the department leadership,” said Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, who has introduced a motion for an independent city inquiry to determine how many firefighters were involved in producing the tape, how widely it was distributed and whether disciplinary action is warranted.

Several members of the Fire Commission said they, too, were disturbed by discrepancies between Manning’s testimony before their panel and the findings of the investigation conducted by the department’s administrative justice unit, headed by Battalion Chief Timothy V. Manning, the chief’s son.

“It certainly does raise concerns,” said Fire Commission President Elizabeth Lowe, “and I’m going to ask about it.”

Commissioner Leslie Song Winner described herself as “mystified.”

“I don’t understand why the department only presented half the story to the commission,” she said. “It makes me wonder whether this investigation is the complete story.”

Commissioner Larry Gonzalez said the probe’s findings even raise legal questions because the primary reason for the videotape’s creation was apparently to target trainees’ poor performances. “I’m appalled as to how the department has handled this situation,” he said.

The events leading up to the tape are scheduled to be discussed again at today’s Fire Commission meeting.

In an interview, Assistant Chief Dean E. Cathey, a department spokesman, said Manning may not have read the investigation report when he spoke to the commission about the probe last week and in subsequent interviews with reporters, including on Monday.

“The best of my recollection in talking to the chief is that he did not read the report,” Cathey said, adding that Manning “may have only been briefed.”

Cathey also said he does not believe that the statements made by the chief and Owens are inconsistent with the investigation’s findings that the original intent of the tape was to be a humorous compilation of bloopers.

As for Owen’s testimony that he was solely responsible for the tape, Cathey said the captain was nervous at the time and was not given the opportunity to tell his entire version because he was constantly interrupted by fire commissioners.

Owens and Carter were not available for comment.

The disclosure of the video has heightened mounting concerns over whether the Fire Department--long recognized as one of the nation’s finest--has discriminated against minorities and women. Last month, the city’s Personnel Department released a blistering audit stating that white males dominate the department’s top posts and that women and minorities have been harassed and given unfair evaluations by supervisors, all in an effort to run them off the force.

The existence of the video was noted in the audit, which was released in November.

Since the controversy over the tape first erupted, Manning has worked hard to defuse the situation in discussions with reporters and his bosses on the mayorally appointed Fire Commission, characterizing the video as harmless and made with no ulterior motive.

At the Dec. 6 Fire Commission hearing, Manning said his view was shaped by the investigation he had ordered. He testified that the probe uncovered no wrongdoing and that only one captain was involved in the project--Owens.

Owens told the commissioners that he used his own camera and tapes to make a “bloopers-type” production and that he decided to abandon it when he realized that the footage could be misinterpreted as demeaning toward recruits.

“I made the decision myself to make all of these tapes,” he insisted after the commission had viewed a 20-minute segment of the video.

Owen’s admission that day surprised many of those who know him, including current members of the department and recruits who did not pass their academy training. “He doesn’t have a mean bone in his body,” said Kay Harter, who is featured in the video and quit the academy two weeks before graduation.

Within the ranks there is so much cynicism about the lack of advancement for minorities and women that some African American firefighters have privately been suggesting that Owens was singled out for blame because he is black--an allegation department officials vehemently deny.

The day after Manning’s and Owens’ testimony, the Fire Department emphasized again in a news release that “the videographer of that tape did not intend for it to depict any recruit unfavorably and he had unilaterally discontinued his project.”

On Monday, Manning insisted in remarks to reporters after a City Council committee hearing that the investigation concluded that Owens acted on his own. “Certainly,” the chief said, “there was no direction for (Owens) to do that.”

But that account does not square with the findings of the two captains who conducted the probe; they determined that Owens was following orders from his supervisor, who wanted videotaped documentation of several recruits.

“Capt. Carter stated he takes full responsibility for the tape being made,” the report said.

Carter told investigators that he initially ordered Owens to make a “bloopers” tape featuring “humorous” incidents that occurred during training drills in the academy from April to June, 1993. He said he came up with the idea after receiving positive feedback from recruits, their families and friends who viewed a graduation video of highlights from the previous Fire Academy class.

That footage “reflected the flavor of the training academy from start to finish,” the report said of the video, which Carter also ordered made.

But, Carter said, he changed his mind about the bloopers tape after he heard from his staff and other trainees that several recruits had threatened sexual harassment complaints and lawsuits if they did not get hired, the report said.

He then ordered Owens to single out the recruits--who also allegedly happened to be having the most difficulty in training--and document their mistakes on video. The report did not state at what point Carter issued his instructions to Owens.

“Capt. Carter reiterated that he felt the ‘Follies’ video would in fact be protecting himself and his staff from any future lawsuit,” the report said.

Using department-supplied tapes and editing equipment, Owens began to compile the footage, which featured such scenes as female recruits dropping ladders on themselves, falling off a seven-foot-high wall as they tried to scale it and hunched over in apparent exhaustion as they flailed with axes on wood.

“If anyone were to watch this video, it would be obvious that only a strength problem existed with these recruits and not a problem of a racial or gender nature,” the report quoted Carter as saying.

There were other training instructors involved in shooting the footage, the report said, but they were not identified by name.

When Owens completed shooting and editing the tape, he made five copies, one for each of the training instructors, the report said. Carter then distributed the tapes to his officers and told them to take them home and save them for documentation purposes, the report said.

When the department investigation was completed, the videotapes were confiscated. Owens was also counseled, the report said, for calling the tape “Drill Tower 89 Follies.”

“Based on the findings of the investigation,” the report concluded, “the preponderance of evidence does not support any violation of the department rules and regulations.”

Under Fire (Southland Edition, A28)

* Times on Demand has assembled a package of four stories on the smoldering bias controversy in the Los Angeles Fire Department. To order, call 808-8463. Press *8630, select option 1 and order No. 5512. $4.

Details on Times electronic services, B4