‘Extremely offensive’: Melbourne investigating photo of firefighter giving Nazi salute

Melbourne officials are investigating a religious discrimination complaint from a Melbourne firefighter who said department leaders failed to act after a supervisor was photographed on duty giving the Nazi salute.

Firefighter Aaron Starkey filed the complaint dated April 12 with the Florida Commission on Human Relations and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, alleging the department failed to address his “valid concerns of antisemitism” and allowed the colleague who was photographed to confront him over the complaints.

Starkey said in the complaint the photo of Battalion Chief Jody Kahler giving the salute in a fake “Hitler-style mustache” and wearing what appears to be a metal bowl on his head, which Starkey called a “German combat helmet,” was taken while Kahler was on-duty and in his Melbourne Fire Department uniform.

“I am Jewish and I found Kahler’s gesture extremely offensive,” Starkey wrote.

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An interview request to Kahler sent through a city spokesperson was denied by Melbourne Fire Chief Mike Bogle, who cited the city’s active investigation.

According to the complaint, Kahler confronted Starkey on April 8 “in order to dissuade me from raising any further complaints” after he’d brought the photo to the attention of the Melbourne firefighters union, Starkey wrote. “Kahler admitted that (he) posed as a Nazi but tried to downplay and trivialize his actions, and didn’t apologize for his actions,” he wrote.

It was not clear from the complaint when the photo was taken. Orlando attorney Daniel Pérez, who is representing Starkey, said the picture had been taken by one of Starkey’s co-workers and had circulated among officers in the department “as kind of a joke.”

“Can’t imagine anything funny about it,” he added.

Starkey accused union officials of failing to file a grievance on his behalf and of passing word of his complaint to Kahler, which he said led to the confrontation. He has charged the department with failing to act on the photo and for allowing the follow-up incident, which he characterized as “retaliation.”

Starkey referred questions to Pérez. Messages sent to the Melbourne Professional Firefighters Local 1951 union were not immediately returned Monday.

City of Melbourne spokeswoman Cheryl Mall said in a statement that the city learned of the allegations through Starkey’s complaint, which it only received from the state late Friday afternoon.

“The City of Melbourne takes allegations of any kind of discrimination, harassment and retaliation very seriously,” Mall wrote in the statement. “We will be conducting a thorough investigation in accordance with city policy.”

“When conducting formal investigations there is established due process that must be followed in order to ensure the legal rights of all those involved,” the statement said. “Upon completion of the investigation, any employees found to be in violation of the City’s policies will be subject to disciplinary action up to and including dismissal.”

Previous complaints against Melbourne Fire Department

Pérez said the episode was only the latest in a list of complaints his client has filed against the department. Starkey also alleged he had been denied federally protected family medical leave in 2018, and said the department had failed to reimburse him for required training in 2020.

As a result of the complaints, Starkey said the department retaliated by transferring him multiple times and denying him a promotion.

The photo incident was just the “straw that broke the camel’s back,” Pérez said.

“Imagine if you’re African American and you find out that your boss is doing blackface at work. That’s how I would conceptualize this,” Pérez said. “There’s just no place for that in 2023 in the workplace.”

A white Brevard County Fire Rescue firefighter was fired in February last year after photos of him wearing blackface during a previous off-duty Halloween party circulated on social media.

Eric Rogers is a watchdog reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Rogers at 321-242-3717 or esrogers@floridatoday.com.