Police, AG Investigate Secaucus Anti-gay Harassment

May 6, 2004

A gay couple who live next door to a Secaucus firehouse are alleging that volunteers hurled anti-gay epithets, dirty condoms, rocks, and death threats at them during the past few months - claims that the police, Hudson County prosecutor, and state attorney general are pursuing.

We are investigating a bias intimidation incident, Secaucus police Capt. John Buckley said Wednesday, hours after the department sent the results of its investigation to the Prosecutor's Office for review.

Police first learned of the allegation at 1 a.m. April 25, when a shaken Peter deVries, 55, and Tim Carter, 45, reported that after asking rowdy firefighters to quiet down, a handful of the men threw rocks at their house, pounded their backyard deck, called them faggots and homos, and threatened to kill them and their faggot dogs. The firefighters also allegedly referred to used condoms that had mysteriously appeared on the deck several times in previous months, confirming for the couple that the volunteers were the culprits.

The men said they complained to a fire officer about the condoms at the time, but police were not alerted.

The April incident occurred after firefighters and their wives returned to the firehouse on a town bus from their annual service awards dinner at a Cliffside Park restaurant. The mayor also attended, as did several Town Council members and their spouses. Officials said the firefighters were off duty for the party and had been drinking.

Within hours of the complaint, Fire Chief Frank Walters declared the firehouse's social lounge off-limits to members and said the station was closed except for emergencies.

Walters lifted the restrictions a week later.

Like most in New Jersey, Secaucus' fire department is entirely volunteer. Many are town employees, primarily with the Department of Public Works.

On Wednesday, the Police Department, which interviewed about 30 people, forwarded its report to the assistant prosecutor who handles bias crimes.

It was an extensive file, County Prosecutor Edward J. DeFazio said. Apparently this was an incident that involved a large of number of persons as having knowledge, or maybe having knowledge but not saying too much about it.

Pressed for more information about the people who were interviewed, DeFazio demurred.

I'm not going to characterize the level of their cooperation, he said.

DeVries and Carter wait impatiently for the prosecutor to decide whether to file charges.

The detectives say the firefighters deny everything, said DeVries, a medical editor who moved to Secaucus 2½ years ago with Carter, his partner of 19 years. It's hard not to feel frustrated. We're afraid. It was so frightening, them pounding on the house, screaming they wanted to kill us because we were gay.

The town's attorney, Frank Leanza, said Secaucus was taking the complaints very seriously.

We don't condone harassment of anyone who lives in town, whether based on race, creed, color, or gender, Leanza said. An investigator with the Attorney General's Office is working with the Secaucus detective bureau to see that every 'i' is dotted and every 't' is crossed in this investigation, because, if the allegations prove to be true, then the law was broken. I'm sure the vast majority of guys in the Fire Department are nice family men who do a good job. But if there's a couple of bad apples, well, that's what laws are for.

The North End fire station, home of a pumper and a rescue truck, has been the focus of town officials' concern before, because of its spirited Saturday night parties and reports of heavy drinking there. Police have received noise complaints for years about late-night gatherings at the Paterson Plank Road station. The night of alleged incident, police received noise complaints from several neighbors.

The firehouse, like many in the state, is often used as an after-work hangout. In 2001, town leaders tightened the policy on alcohol use at fire stations after newspaper reports, townspeople, and even some firefighters raised concerns about the tavern-like atmosphere at some of the town's firehouses, as well as firefighters' sobriety at fire scenes.

Town officials said privately that the possible role of alcohol on April 25 worried them, adding that they plan to review the policy once the criminal investigation is completed.

Meanwhile, Leanza said, police have monitored the couple's two-story home since that night, using both police vehicles and unmarked cars. On Wednesday evening, police cars cruised up and down the street. At one point, a police car sat alone in the parking lot outside the red-brick fire station, which appeared to be empty.

We want to provide them with the security and peace of mind everyone is entitled to, Leanza said.

The minimum sentence for a bias crime is 18 months in prison.