Two Montgomery County firefighters were acquitted of charges related to a July incident in which the Montgomery Blair High School baseball field was soaked with water from a fire apparatus hose.
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Two Montgomery County firefighters were acquitted of charges Friday related to a July incident in which the Montgomery Blair High School baseball field in Silver Spring was soaked with water from a fire apparatus hose at an adjacent fire station.
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Water sprayed onto Montgomery Co. high school field during baseball game
Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service (MCFRS) Capt. Chris Reilly and firefighter Alan Barnes were charged Sept. 22 with three misdemeanors, including malicious destruction of property, conspiracy to commit malicious destruction of property and disorderly conduct in connection with the July 17 incident. Both men are career—not volunteer—firefighters who were working at Silver Spring Volunteer Fire Department Station 16 at 111 University Blvd. East. They were suspended from the department pending an internal investigation.
Montgomery County District Court Judge Rand Gelber dismissed the charges against Barnes following a morning trial and later acquitted Reilly after a trial in the downtown Silver Spring court. Gelber said during Reilly’s trial that there was “insufficient evidence” of destruction of the field by the soaking.
“You’re an innocent man,” Gelber told Barnes after the charges were dropped.
Rand Lucey, Reilly’s attorney, said after Reilly’s trial that while the firefighter was “satisfied” with the court’s decision and pleased that more information about the incident had been revealed, he was not proud of his actions.
“There’s no sort of win-win here,” he said, noting that Reilly remains suspended from the fire department.
The charges came after the July 17 incident in which water was sprayed onto the baseball field from the adjacent station before a scheduled game for the Silver Spring-Takoma Thunderbolts. The Thunderbolts alleged in a July social media post that the water was sprayed in retaliation for a baseball hitting a pickup truck parked near the station.
The baseball field is owned by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission and used by the Thunderbolts, one of eight teams that play in the Cal Ripken Sr. Collegiate Baseball League, during June and July.
Kate Corliss
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