The president of the Syracuse police union said it's ridiculous that Ted Ackerman would fear police officers might shoot him as he hid after a fatal hit and run last year.
Ackerman, a city firefighter, fled the scene of a fatal accident he witnessed, then hid in the basement of Pastime Athletic Club while police banged on the door upstairs. The city fired Ackerman last year, but an arbitrator recently ruled he should be rehired.
According to a summary of testimony from an arbitration hearing, Ackerman and the union claimed in their appeal of his firing that Ackerman hid in the basement of Pastime because he was afraid police might mistake him for his friend, Peter Rauch, and shoot him.
That testimony says Ackerman was aware of the relationship between Rauch's boss -- District Attorney Bill Fitzpatrick -- and the police chief, Frank Fowler.