Former Albuquerque paramedic and mixed martial arts cutman Brad Tate fought his way into the Albuquerque Fire Department by taking legal action. His protracted legal fight to try to keep his job has cost the city more than $330,000.
Tate, an AFD lieutenant with a decadelong career, was fired in 2013 after the city Personnel Board found he had provided substandard care, intimidated and bullied patients and their families and falsified records to show that patients who called 911 had refused care and transportation. In one case, the city paid a $49,500 settlement to a girl’s relatives who claimed Tate talked them out of having her taken to a hospital when she showed symptoms that he dismissed as a “flu bug.” In fact, she had a ruptured appendix.
Tate mounted a multipronged legal battle, contending the city violated his constitutional rights, discriminated against him, denied him due process and violated state law by depriving him of information so he could properly defend himself.