A volunteer firefighter took a deal yesterday after an arrest that got world-wide attention - not because he was driving drunk - but because of the wig and bikini he was wearing at the time of the arrest.
Steven Cole, 46, plead guilty to operating a vehicle while intoxicated, and disorderly conduct. The open container and public indecency charges were dropped.
Never in trouble with the law, Cole lost his job after he got stopped for suspicion of drunk driving back in April on his way to compete for 10,000 in a male bikini contest.
The married father of three, who's wife stayed be his side at all of his court hearings, faced the biggest punishment imaginable after the local story went global courtesy of the Internet.
"I think it's enough, isn't it, if you lose your job? [To] lose a line of work where he was a fireman where he enjoyed helping others," said Cole's attorney Charlie Rittgers. "Where he embarrassed his family and himself. I think that's enough punishment as it is," he said.
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Meanwhile, a Los Angeles firefighter who said she was harassed at work because she is African-American, a woman and a lesbian received a $6.2 million jury award Tuesday in her discrimination case against the city.The Daily News is reporting that a jury ruled in favor of Brenda Lee, 39, after a two-week trial. It's the largest payout in a string of recent settlements of cases alleging discrimination and retaliation against women and minorities within the Los Angeles Fire Department. Lee is currently on unpaid leave.
Lee's attorneys had offered to settle the case for $4.5 million, but the City Attorney's Office had recommended against the offer.
The verdict is another blow for the city and a fire department trying to recover from what critics say was a firehouse culture of horseplay and permissiveness that sometimes crossed the line into race and gender discrimination.
A 12-year LAFD veteran, Lee alleged her superiors made derogatory comments about her and put her through grueling drills without proper safety precautions because of her race and sexual orientation.
She also said her locker was ransacked. Most of the discrimination occurred from 2002 to 2004 while she was assigned to the Chatsworth station.
Lee filed her lawsuit in 2005 along with two former Los Angeles firefighters - both white - who also alleged they faced discrimination and were forced to retire partly because of their age.
In other cases against the LAFD, the case of Tennie Pierce, a black firefighter who filed a discrimination suit after dog food was slipped into his dinner in what colleagues said was a prank, is headed for trial in September.