Fired for Doing Right
Sometimes Good Samaritans hold shotguns.
Colin Bruley was an on-site leasing agent for a Jacksonville apartment complex. Late one night in June he heard the screams of a next-door neighbor, yelling she had been shot. Bruley ran to help, and tried to treat the woman’s bloodied leg until an ambulance could arrive. Was that the mistake?
Bruley had also brought his shotgun in case the assailant was still around. Was that the mistake? Man’s got the right to defend himself, right?
Well, what about his failure to report the incident to supervisors right after it happened about two in the morning? Bruley says he felt a bit rattled. And that once the woman had gone to the hospital, he didn’t think there was much supervisors could do immediately anyway.
But the next day Bruley was fired for “brandishing” a weapon in violation of workplace rules, and for failing to report the incident presto. I guess he could have woken somebody up at 2 a.m. But sounds like he would have been fired anyway for the so-called brandishing.
Most folks who hear about all this are outraged, with good reason. Colin Bruley, however, is not the kind of citizen to be discouraged by punishment when he should have received a pat on the back. He says: “If I’d lose my job again for helping save some girl’s life. . . . I’d do it over and over.”
Good man. But what kind of society is he living in?
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
