Workplace Misconduct and Hazing

Authorities in Marion County, Florida, fired 10 fire-rescue employees and filed criminal charges against four of them after a 19-year-old rookie firefighter reported being stripped, whipped with a belt and waterboarded three times during a Nov. 26 hazing incident at Marion County Fire Rescue’s Station 21. Sheriff Billy Woods said the group chased the rookie over a TikTok video, forcibly took his phone, beat him on his bare skin, and used a towel and water bottle to waterboard him as he pleaded for them to stop, leading to kidnapping, battery and robbery charges against three firefighter/EMTs and robbery-related charges against a paramedic accused of filming the assault.