Esteban Parra

The News Journal

A Wilmington Fire Marshal inspector conducting residency investigations outside the city was questioned by two different police agencies last week, including one in Pennsylvania. In one instance, he pulled a gun on a man who said he photographed the inspector coming out of neighbors' backyards.

No charges were brought against Thomas L. Ruger Jr., but the incidents raise questions about who is authorized to perform residency inquiries.

"That is not their job," said Wilmington Councilman Michael A. Brown Sr., who pointed to a city policy claiming these investigations are supposed to be conducted by the city's Residency Review Board. "It does not say that the departments have a right to do it."

New city employees, including firefighters, must live in the city for at least five years.

Brown demanded the city's human resource department and the solicitor investigate the matter, adding that Wilmington Mayor Dennis P. Williams' administration feels like it can supersede city codes. "It goes on to show you that this administration picks and chooses who they want to go after," he said.

A spokeswoman for Williams' administration declined to comment on the incidents involving the inspector. One took place Wednesday in the Richardson Park area near Newport, and the other occurred Friday in Hatfield Township, Pennsylvania, about 50 miles northwest of Wilmington.

Wilmington fire officials would not comment on the incident. Fire Chief Anthony Goode, who was reached on Friday by Twitter, said, "The WFD does not provide comment(s) on personnel matters or internal investigations." He also said via Twitter that he was not aware of the Wednesday incident. He did not respond to questions on Tuesday about the Friday incident.

When contacted last week, Tim Taggart, vice president of International Association of Fire Fighters Local 1590 for Wilmington, said having members investigating other members could cause problems.

"I do not feel that our own membership should be investigating other members, as this could cause a serious rift between members and make them feel uneasy or that someone may be out to get them," Taggart said. "I believe the city has a private group that will investigate our membership, as well as other employees, to prevent any conflicts of interest."

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In the Wednesday incident near Newport, Terry Manning said he noticed a vehicle drive up at 1:30 a.m. without its lights on for about a block before coming to a stop in the unit block of Winston Place. Shortly after that, Manning said he walked out of his house to see what the man was doing.

"By that time, he had gotten out of his truck, walked through the yard, to the back in between the houses," Manning said. "Around back, I saw flashes of light, like he was taking pictures."

Manning ran back inside his house, grabbed his cellphone and returned outside where he started taking pictures of the man's vehicle.

"I guess he saw me taking pictures so he came out from behind the houses and said, 'Oh yeah, you can take my picture,' " Manning said. "But he had a camera in front of his face."

The two continued exchanging words as they neared each other, until finally Manning said that the man slapped his cellphone out of his right hand.

"I just instinctively punched him," Manning said.

The two went down, but when the man was able to get up, he pulled his gun out and said he was a policeman, Manning said. The man pulled out a lanyard with a badge on it.

Manning said he didn't believe the man was a police officer and told him so: "Cops don't slap people for taking pictures."

The man continued to point the gun at Manning, saying he was police as he backed to his truck, got in and fled.

Manning said he called 911.

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"I'd like to know what the heck is going on," Manning said. "I really didn't like the fact that he pulled a gun on me."

Krystine and Marian Wiktorowicz, who live in the unit block of Winston Place, said they were awakened at 3 a.m. by county police knocking on their door. Neither said they were aware of what had happened earlier.

The couple said the officers asked if they knew Michael Wiktorowicz. At first they thought something had happened to their son, a member of the Wilmington Fire Department, but officers explained that a Wilmington fire marshal had been looking for him in the neighborhood. The couple told police that their son was in his home in Wilmington recovering from surgery.

Shortly after the officers left, Krystine Wiktorowicz called her son and told him what had happened. The couple said they were unaware of what had happened earlier until they spoke to Manning later that day.

"This is the county; this is not the city," Krystine Wiktorowicz said. "Someone is looking around, peeking through my windows or taking pictures. This is invasion of my privacy."

Michael Wiktorowicz, who was recently elected to the executive board of the city's fire department union, said he's not sure why this occurred. He said he's not reached out to the fire department to see why Ruger was there.

"If they wanted questions from me, I believe they would have contacted me to question me for anything," he said.

New Castle County police confirmed they investigated an incident involving a member of the Wilmington Fire Marshal's Office in the Richardson Park area, but would not identify the individual. Both county police and the state Attorney General's Office said the matter is closed.

"We're not investigating," said Carl Kanefsky, a spokesman with the Attorney General's Office. "Based on the facts presented to us, we agreed with New Castle County police that criminal charges were not appropriate."

On Friday, Ruger was questioned by Hatfield Township police after a woman called officers about 9:30 a.m. to say a man had been photographing her house that day.

When officers arrived, the woman pointed at a dark-blue Chevy Tahoe that was traveling east, according to an incident report by the township police. Officers stopped the Tahoe and found Ruger behind the wheel wearing a tactical vest with "Fire Marshal" on the front. After presenting his credentials, the report said that Ruger explained he was conducting an investigation of a fire department employee that was believed to live at the Hatfield house in the 600 block of Brighton Drive.

"He stated that there have been numerous instances as of late where new hires are not fulfilling that requirement and that was why he was taking photos of the residence ...," according to the document. "He stated that he never went on the property itself but did receive permission from a neighbor on Grapevine [Drive] to be on their property while taking pictures."

The officer advised Ruger that in the future he should notify Hatfield Township police that he would be in the area in order to prevent police response during his investigation, to which he agreed that he would, according to the document.

Ruger, who was reached by email Friday, said he was not aware of the incident that took place in Richardson Park.

"I know nothing about any incident ... that you say occurred in Richardson Park," Ruger said in an email Friday. "Again when I contacted NCCP they informed me of the same they are not conducting any investigation over an incident which might have occurred."

Neither Ruger nor Goode immediately responded to requests for comments on Monday or Tuesday.

Contact Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299, eparra@delawareonline.com or Twitter @eparra3.