L.A. firefighter hailed as a hero is put on paid leave

Firefighter Charles Anthony MacDougall was hailed as a hero when he survived a stabbing attack in a downtown Los Angeles hotel last month while assisting someone in distress.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa visited MacDougall in the hospital, whose injuries prevented him for accepting his Paramedic of the Year award from Los Angeles County/USC Medical Center.

But three weeks later, authorities are raising questions about exactly what happened inside the Cecil Hotel.

Sources familiar with the case told The Times that police investigators have found inconsistencies in the statements of MacDougall and his partner, who also was at the hotel.

Investigators have looked through their paramedic rig searching for potential evidence, according to sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity because it is an ongoing investigation.

The Los Angeles Fire Department on Wednesday said that both firefighters were on paid administrative leave as the investigation continues, but would not comment on the case further.

“All I can say is that the Los Angeles Police Department is investigating the circumstances of the case,” said Capt. Steve Ruda of the Los Angeles Fire Department.

Steve Meister, an attorney representing MacDougall, said Wednesday that his client had done nothing wrong and that there is no suggestion the police investigation is focused on him.

“I’m in contact with LAPD detectives and they have been very professional,” said Meister, who declined to discuss specifics of the case.

The sources said police have struggled to track MacDougall’s account of the attack and cannot find the alleged assailant despite weeks of searching.

Surveillance video has complicated matters because it shows the firefighters were separated for about eight minutes, the sources said.

It is considered unusual for firefighters involved in such an incident to be put on administrative leave. But the sources stressed that the investigation is still in its preliminary stages and it is far from clear that any misconduct occurred.

MacDougall was upstairs in the hotel while his partner was in the paramedic van, the coffee shop and in the Cecil Hotel’s lobby. The sources said detectives believe someone attacked the firefighter and fled the scene — but the circumstances remain unclear.

MacDougall, a 9 1/2-year department veteran, told police he had gone to assist a man on one of the upper floors of the hotel at Main and 6th streets when an assailant stabbed him in the elbow and several times in the body.

He told investigators that he was in the coffee shop next to the Cecil Hotel when he learned a man needed assistance upstairs. MacDougall’s partner told police he did not see who spoke to his colleague but that MacDougall came out of the coffee shop and told him someone needed to be examined, the sources said.

The pair then entered the hotel through the coffee shop. MacDougall headed up the stairway in the hotel while his partner stayed on the ground level, the sources said. The partner eventually went upstairs and found MacDougall bleeding from stab wounds.

richard.winton@latimes.com

andrew.blankstein@latimes.com