Who is Thomas Fee? Retired NY firefighter wanted for Capitol riot was suspended for using racial slurs in 2004
A retired New York firefighter is wanted for his role in the failed insurrection attempt at the US Capitol building on January 6. Hundreds of pro-Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building as Congress members convened to certify the results of the 2020 presidential elections that was won by former Vice President Joe Biden.
After months of baseless claims from outgoing President Donald Trump that the election was "stolen", rioters marched to the Capitol supporting his call to overturn the results.
The riots were later contained after the Capitol police lost control of the crowd and ended with a death toll of five people, including a woman who was trampled by other pro-Trump supporters and a Capitol police officer who was beaten to death by rioters with a fire extinguisher.
The former New York firefighter, 53-year-old Thomas Fee, had retired from the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) in October 2020. He was identified through a photo he sent to an acquaintance of himself surrounded by rioters inside the US Capitol Rotunda, according to court papers. The acquaintance, Fee's former girlfriend's brother, was also sent a video in which people were yelling “tyranny” and “Pelosi” along with a text about Fee being the deadly riot’s spear tip.
According to the New York Post, the unidentified man, who is an agent with the US Diplomatic Security Service, initially deleted the messages, but later recovered them and contacted the authorities.
This was not the first time Fee was in the news. In 2004, he ignited controversy at the Hempstead volunteer fire station on Long Island when he was reported as yelling out racial slurs on three or four occasions as a Black cardiologist walked past the firehouse. The doctor, who had not been named in the New York Post report, had complained about Fee's actions to the latter's captain, following which he was suspended.
That was the second time Fee was suspended from the Hempstead Fire Department. He was previously suspended in 2001 for speaking with the media after "wading through flames" to try to rescue two men. A year later, the Nassau County Fire Commission awarded him the Silver Medal for Valor for his efforts in the same case.
The New York Post reported that Fee is being sought for arrest at the time of reporting, according to a source they spoke to. The publication also noted that he earned a total of $125,794 in fiscal 2020, with a base salary of $85,292, according to the Empire Center’s SeeThroughNY website.
Fee was charged on Saturday, January 16, with violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds and knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful entry, according to a criminal complaint filed in Washington DC.
The New York Post also reached out to Fee's neighbor, an unnamed woman, who described him as an "a**." She said that when he first moved in, Fee tried to show her and other Black neighbors his "gun collection." She said that he is "definitely off," and that he told her, "You know, they think that I don't like Black people." Fee then reportedly told her, "I got in trouble messing with a Black lady before but I love Black ladies."