A city firefighter was charged with a stabbing attack on two men during a Rhode Island bar brawl on the 18th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, authorities said.
John Decarlo, 35, attacked two men, both 25, during a 1:15 a.m. fight in the parking lot of the All Stars Bar and Grill in Warwick, R.I.
Police said they found the victims, identified in court as David Ryan and Mathew Theberge, bleeding from stab wounds to the neck and torso. Both men were rushed by medics to a local hospital and were in stable condition.
Four Rhode Island men were charged with disorderly conduct and released with a summons, cops said.
Decarlo, a three-year FDNY veteran who lives in Brooklyn, was hit with two counts of assault with intent to commit murder, weapon possession and disorderly conduct.
Erin Calahan, a prosecutor for the Warwick police department, said the brawl started as an argument inside the bar, according to the Providence Journal, which posted a video of his bail hearing.
Decarlo shook his head as Calahan described the allegations, saying Decarlo and his friends started to leave, but turned their SUV around and came back to the bar parking lot— and that Decarlo ran from the scene with a knife.
Police used credit card information to identify those involved in the brawl, and found them in a home about five or six miles away, she said. Cops also found the shirt Decarlo was wearing in the bar — which matched video taken inside — as well as the knife and Decarlo’s bloody shorts and sneakers, Calahan said.
At a bail hearing, lawyer James Lawrence said Decarlo was a member of the Army Reserve and a former Marine, and was in Warwick on military business.
“Mr. Decarlo comes from a family of law enforcement officers. His sister is a New York City detective…. His dad was a New York City police officer who unfortunately passed away from a World Trade Center-related cancer,” Lawrence said. “So of all the tragic ironies he appears before you today on 9/11.”
He was released on $50,000 surety bail, and is due back in court Nov. 25.
“The Department will work with the Warwick Police Department during their investigation. He will receive the maximum suspension without pay pending the outcome of this investigation,” FDNY spokesman James Long said.
That maximum suspension is four weeks without pay.
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