COLUMBUS COUNTY, N.C. (WECT) – A woman says she captured a video of a firefighter with the Acme-Delco-Riegelwood Fire Rescue pointing a gun at her. The incident was uploaded to Facebook on Sunday, but according to the post’s creator, Tae DeLeon, it actually took place on Saturday on Highway 74.
It is unclear what led to the incident, but according to the post, the driver had been in a confrontation with a different firefighter before she hit the record button and the scene unfolded.
WECT reached out to the ADR-FR for comment and Chief Steve Camlin said he, along with the rest of the department, would not issue any statements at this time, and that the department’s board of directors is handling the incident.
DeLeon says she spoke with a State Trooper who told her to file a report on the incident, but since he did not see it happen, could not do anything about it at that time.
The fire department is not staffed by Columbus County employees, instead, the county has a contract with the department to provide services to the area. We have reached out to Columbus County Attorney Amanda Prince for a comment on the video but at the time of publication, have not gotten a response.
WECT also reached out to the North Carolina State Highway Patrol and the State Fire Marshal’s Office. Both agencies said they would look into the incident but they too have yet to provide any sort of statement on the incident.
When asked, Barry Smith of the Office of the State Fire Marshal said in general, firefighters do not have arrest powers, however, some volunteer firefighters are also police officers. It is unknown at this time if the individual in the video is also a sworn law enforcement officer.
The Columbus County Sheriff’s Office is aware of the video but said as of Monday morning, no incident report has been filed with them – until that happens they will not investigate it.
