Firefighters Charged with Hosing Neighboring Park’s Baseball Diamond in Retaliation for Stray Balls

Two Silver Spring, Maryland firemen have been charged with misdemeanors after they rained out a baseball game with their fire truck amid a long-running feud over balls being hit on fire department property.

Authorities hit Montgomery County Fire Capt. Christopher Reilly and firefighter Alan Barnes with three misdemeanor charges for the watery assault this past July, according to NBC News.

The firemen reportedly unleashed the waterworks after a home run ball hit by a collegiate league player in pregame practice hit a fireman’s personal pickup truck, Fox 5 in Washington reported in July.

Both firefighters face two counts of malicious destruction of property and one count of disorderly conduct.

The soaked field resulted in the cancellation of a game by the Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League team, the Silver Spring Takoma Thunderbolts.

The league uses the diamond at Montgomery Blair High School which is located adjacent to Silver Spring Fire Station 16.

“The Montgomery County Fire Rescue Service takes this matter very seriously and is cooperating with the investigation,” Montgomery County said in a statement Wednesday.

The statement added the two firefighters have been “removed from operational duties and placed on non-public contact status,” pending the outcome of an internal investigation.

Defense attorney Richard Finci told NBC News the watery retribution was the result of an ongoing dispute between the firefighters and baseball players who constantly hit dingers or lose balls on the fire station’s property.

The fire captain told police officers he let the water go on for about one minute before cutting the flow, according to the criminal complaint obtained by the network.

The other charged firefighter allegedly positioned the pumper truck but did not touch the spigot.

“There are nine other leagues who play here, and we’re not the only ones that hit home runs,” Dick O’Connor, founder and director of the Thunderbolts, told 7News back in July.

Aiden Driscoll, an outfielder with the Thunderbolts, said the incident was a strange turn of events, as the previous week their games had been cancelled because of rain storms.

“I don’t think I will ever in my entire baseball career get a fire truck rainout again,” he told the ABC affiliate. “I’m sure there will be some more rainouts, but probably not a fire truck rainout.”

Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.