Mar 30, 2019 4 min read

MONESSEN – A Monessen volunteer firefighter caught heat following accusations that he made an inappropriate comment on Facebook about people protesting the Michael Rosfeld verdict.

Rosfeld, a former East Pittsburgh police officer, was acquitted last week in the shooting death of 17-year-old Pittsburgh resident Antwon Rose II. Following Rosfeld’s acquittal, hundreds of people took to Pittsburgh’s streets to protest the verdict.

Caleb Kolbeck Sr., a Monessen resident, told city council Thursday night that he felt the community’s safety was at risk because he perceived the comment as being “violent.”

According to Kolbeck, Belle Vernon firefighter Joel Davis posted a comment on a live feed on WPXI’s Facebook page that read: “Spray them in the face with a fire truck.” Kolbeck alleged that Albany Suzanne Deiley, a member of Monessen’s Hilltop Volunteer Fire Department, then made a Facebook comment that read: “You guys don’t want to bring that protesting stuff around here.”

“That’s not the mindset we want our firefighters to have,” said Kolbeck, who was accompanied at the meeting by a local member of the NAACP. “We shouldn’t be met with violence. We should be met with peace. That’s what those children were doing down there.”

Kolbeck, who said Belle Vernon fire Chief Rich Saxberg removed Davis from that fire company, asked Monessen council to remove Deiley from the Hilltop VFD.

“The whole fire departments are not represented by these individuals. But we need to make these people accountable and own up to what they did that was wrong,” said Kolbeck.

While Acting Mayor Tony Orzechowski said city officials don’t “condone that kind of attitude,” he said council can’t make any membership decisions because it only oversees buildings and insurance policies for the fire departments’ equipment.

“They are a volunteer organization, and this will have to be addressed by Hilltop’s board,” said Orzechowski.

Dan Sinsely, first captain of the Hilltop VFD and president of its board, came to the defense of both firefighters during the meeting.

“(Davis’) comments were made in regard to crowd control,” said Sinsely. “Racism was never mentioned once, and it was never brought into question. My firefighter, Albany, was just posting a comment that (Davis) had a very good reason for making that comment. If you think that one person could be punished for making their comments, I ask you to look at yourselves closely. Right or wrong, we are allowed to express our opinions freely.”

Councilman David Feehan, who invited Kolbeck to attend the meeting, asked Sinsely if the Hilltop fire department had a social media policy in its bylaws. Sinsely told Feehan he didn’t believe such a policy was in place.

As tensions rose, Councilwoman Lois Thomas stood up and denounced any inflammatory remarks that were made on social media.

“People have a right to free speech but that doesn’t mean you have a right to disrespect other people,” said Thomas. “When you tell people to hose someone else, that’s dividing people. If we allow this to continue and not stop it, it will get worse.”

Sinslely, who welcomed Kolbeck to attend the next meeting of the Hilltop VFD board, said the matter will be handled internally.

Zachary Santoro, a resident of Charleroi who accompanied Kolbeck to the meeting, said he is getting support for a petition he started to denounce hate speech.

“Those with responsibility for public safety should have unbiased views of anybody,” he said.

In other business, council:

• Announced that the city will purchase two new fuel-efficient vehicles for the police department, using money from a lawsuit settlement with ArcelorMittal Monessen for air pollution violations. Orzechowski said Monessen – along with Carroll Township and Donora – will each get $100,000 from this settlement.
• Appointed Orzechowski to serve as an alternate representative to the Mid Mon Valley Council of Governments until the next organizational meeting following the municipal general election.
• Announced a Community Clean Up Day that will occur on Saturday, April 27.