Video shows Florida first responders ‘hazing’ 19-year-old rookie
By Gail Paschall-Brown
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MARION COUNTY, Florida (WESH) — The Marion County Sheriff’s Office has released interviews and documents regarding an alleged hazing incident at an Ocala fire station last month, involving the waterboarding and bullying of a rookie firefighter.
One of the employees arrested, a paramedic with Marion County Fire Rescue, told detectives she took pictures and videos of the incident but was later instructed to delete them, which she did, except for one video.
“I just don’t want my merch anymore,” the victim yelled in a video showing the 19-year-old firefighter being restrained at Fire Station 21. He repeatedly shouted that he no longer wanted the merchandise from the station.
Tate Trauthwein, Edward Kenny III, Seth Day, and Kaylee Bradley are accused of assaulting and terrorizing the young firefighter on November 16. The firefighters face charges of kidnapping, robbery, and battery.
“You have the right to remain silent,” a detective said while reading Bradley her Miranda rights. In a tearful interview with Marion County Sheriff investigators, Bradley explained that she initially thought the incident was just horseplay among the firefighters. “I thought that we were friends. This is something they’ve done a million times,” she said. “I thought they were friends. They told them to stop, and they didn’t stop. I’ve only been there a month. This was like a daily occurrence.”
When asked by the investigator if this was the first time anyone had been beaten with a belt and essentially waterboarded, she replied, “No, it’s not.”
The victim reported being waterboarded and bullied during the alleged hazing incident on November 16. He told detectives he was also beaten with a duty belt. “One came behind me and held my arms and dragged me over to in front of the bay… took my belt off and started hitting me with it,” he said.
Bradley said she took videos and pictures on her phone. “I have like them like rough housing like on my phone, and then they told me stop taking videos of it, so I did,” she said.
In an initial interview, detectives asked Bradley if it was horseplay. “I thought it was horseplay, but then Tate said he had left marks on him,” she said. “I was told not to bring up any instances of former hazing, so this was like an isolated incident; this was a joke that went too far,” she added.
When asked by a detective at what point she thought the situation was getting out of hand, Bradley said, “It alone, like not even getting to the waterboarding point, it just felt excessively wrong.”
Bradley told detectives she permanently deleted everything except one video. “I just felt like this was going to be something. I didn’t want to get in trouble for deleting anything,” she said.
Paramedic Kaylee Bradley was charged with robbery and principal-accessory to robbery. In total, 10 fire rescue members were fired for failing to report the alleged hazing at Fire Station 21 last month. The fire chief stated that those fired included leadership personnel who were on shift the day the alleged hazing occurred.
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