The D.C. fire lieutenant set to retire with benefits after a 1-year-old boy died from choking on a grape under his watch has been told he cannot retire before he appears before a review panel, a D.C. fire department spokesman said.
The lieutenant was charged in July with neglect of duty, incompetence and failure to provide assistance to the public after the little boy died in March. Earlier this month, he was poised to retire with a full pension because the department failed to enact a new regulation mandated by D.C. law, as News4 reported.
The toddler began choking the morning of March 13 on Warren Street NW, just three blocks from Engine 20 on Wisconsin Avenue.