Fire Captain Is Praised, Scorned for Role in Probe : Discrimination: ‘It was time to speak up’ about bias against women, officer says. But some colleagues feel betrayed.

Los Angeles City Fire Capt. Bassanio Peters figured that he had nothing to gain and everything to lose.

But after hearing firefighter after firefighter testify before a City Council committee in November that they had neither seen nor heard of discrimination on the 3,100-member force, he had to break ranks. So three weeks later, the 17-year department veteran dropped a bombshell at a Personnel Committee hearing.

Peters testified that as a training captain at the Fire Academy in 1993, he not only heard his colleagues make sexist statements about female recruits but that the women had been subjected to harsher evaluations in an effort to boot them off the force.

“Everybody else was saying everything was great, but I knew better,” Peters said . “It was time to speak up.”

The 36-year-old Peters--a bulky weightlifter who works at a South-Central Los Angeles firehouse just blocks from where he was raised--has become the focus of praise and scorn.

For some, he is a hero who put his reputation--and career--on the line to do what he thought was right. For others, he is a turncoat who broke a code of silence and betrayed his fellow firefighters.

Peters said he has received a number of harassing phone calls while on duty at the firehouse. One anonymous caller labeled him a “reverse racist,” Peters said, and another fire captain who identified himself admonished him for “not keeping his mouth shut.” Other firefighters refuse to speak to him.

Even Fire Chief Donald O. Manning has acknowledged that his investigators turned a probe of Peters’ allegations against the captain, attempting to discredit him by asking questions about his personal life.

When he testified in December, Peters was the highest-ranking fire officer to break from his colleagues. By doing so, he rocked a department already shaken by one of the biggest discrimination controversies since it was integrated nearly 40 years ago.

His accusations prompted Manning to order the investigation that found no wrongdoing, even though several firefighters backed Peters’ version. Facing criticism about the accuracy and thoroughness of the probe, Manning distanced himself Monday from the very investigation that he ordered, saying that he was disturbed by its findings.

Capt. Roy Harvey, who works with Peters at Fire Station 64 on 108th Street, fears that his good friend will ultimately pay the price for his perceived lack of loyalty. Peters will either never be promoted or will be transferred to a station in some part of the city far from South-Central, where he grew up and still lives, Harvey predicted.

“It may be six years or six months,” Harvey said. “But somewhere down the line, someone will take a shot at him. It’s 100% guaranteed.”

As a senior at Locke High School in South-Central, Peters seemed an unlikely candidate for the physical, stress-filled job of fighting fires. Never very athletic, he joined the school band, eventually becoming its drum major.

After graduating, Peters became a clerk with the U.S. Postal Service. Unsatisfied by the routine nature of the job and wanting to do something to help others, Peters said, he applied to the Los Angeles City Fire Department at the suggestion of a friend.

At age 19, Peters was hired. Just 155 pounds, he began lifting weights to bulk up his 5-foot, 9-inch frame. Peters, who now weighs 215 pounds, became an avid power-lifter and represented the department at the 1991 World Fire and Police Olympics in Memphis, Tenn.

Peters is also a reserve sergeant with the West Covina Police Department, a position he had hoped would provide him with law enforcement experience so that he could become an arson investigator.

It was during his rookie year that Peters said he first experienced the ugly side of firehouse culture. At a station in Hollywood, a captain began tap-dancing on a handball court as a puzzled Peters watched.

“I just looked at him kind of strange,” recalled Peters, who is African American.

“You don’t know what this is?” Peters quoted the captain as saying. “You probably don’t eat watermelon, either.”

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Peters said the remarks were among a number of discriminatory comments that he would hear over the years. Still, he said, he was unprepared for what he contends occurred in 1993 at the Fire Academy, where he was the strength and conditioning coach.

As he testified before the City Council committee and later recounted to fire investigators, training staff members made derogatory remarks about female recruits. Peters also said the women were drilled harder than their male counterparts.

Peters first complained about the alleged discrimination to Manning’s former chief of staff about a month before the academy class ended in June, 1993. The chief of staff, Randy Wallace, who has since retired, told the council’s Personnel Committee in December that the entire training staff was transferred but that there was no investigation initially because Peters made his charges anonymously through an intermediary. However, Wallace later acknowledged that Peters spoke to him personally and identified himself.

Peters’ testimony heightened concerns about whether the Fire Department has discriminated against women and minorities--a criticism first voiced in a harshly worded city audit released in November. Among other things, the Personnel Department audit reported that female recruits at the Fire Academy were “weeded out” by instructors who relied on “subjective” evaluations.

Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg, chairwoman of the Personnel Committee, said Tuesday that she had no reason to doubt the veracity of Peters’ statements. Puzzled that the Fire Department’s investigation found no wrongdoing, Goldberg’s committee has begun its own closed-door inquiry into the matter.

“I was astonished that he was willing to come forward,” Goldberg said. “He exemplifies that old saying that evil triumphs when the good say nothing.”

Former recruits in the academy class said Tuesday that they felt vindicated by Peters’ testimony.

“I think he is right on target,” said Diane Cameron, who quit the academy after injuring her back. “It’s nice to see a guy with a backbone because there is such a code of silence there.”

As for Peters, he said he looks forward to the day when the controversy is over. “I kind of wish the spotlight would go away,” he said. “I didn’t intend to have the focus on me.”