A retired cop says the city took away his guns as retribution — because his fire-inspector son stumbled onto an alleged city conspiracy to protect Ed Norton’s production company amid the investigation into a fatal fire on his “Motherless Brooklyn” film set.
Retired Scarsdale police officer Ronald Cummings, 75, filed a notice of claim —the precursor to a lawsuit — against the city and the fire department claiming the FDNY extorted him and used his son as leverage to confiscate six handguns guns, for which he had licenses, as part of the “initial and continued cover-up of the death of FDNY Firefighter Michael Davidson — all in the name to protect the Hollywood movie industry.”
Cummings’ son Jonathan Cummings, 42, was part of the FDNY’s “Specht 6” team that investigated the March 2018 fire at the Harlem building where Norton was filming his since-released flick, which led to Davidson’s death.
While the official fire report blamed a boiler for the blaze, Jonathan’s findings ran contrary to that claim, according to the dad’s lawyer, Peter Gleason, who said his own investigation led him to believe the sprinklers, which didn’t go off at the time, had been turned off by the production company. Those findings could have shifted liability from the landlord to Norton’s production company, the lawyer said.
Then, on Sept. 19, 2018, the ꦏFDNY ordered Jonathan to hand over his handgun with no reason given, but he was later charged with conduct unbecoming the oath of office because the gun was disassembled when he handed it over and was suspended for a month in October.
Jonathan had 🀅left the gun disassembled becaus💟e it was at home and he wanted to keep it safe from his children, Gleason said.
He has been on modified duty since, and Gleason says the suspension was “fabricated” as part of the retaliation against him for trying to blow the whistle on the true cause of the fire.
Cop🎶s and fire marshals are required to fill out paperwork stating what firearms they have access to and who will safeguard the guns if the respondent is incapable.
And since Jonathan listed his dad’s guns on the forms, the FDNY also asked Ronald to turn over his firearms, allegedly threatening that “his son Jonathan’s life would be made miserable” if he did not, according to the notice of claim.
T🔯he FDNY had no legal grounds to sei🍌ze Ronald’s guns, according to Gleason.
“They wanted everybody to get in line to cover up the death of the firefighter and cover up the real cause of it to protect Ed Norton and the movie company,” he said.
Davidson’s widow Eileen has since sued the city, the production company and the landlord for her husband’s death. Displaced tenants of the building have also filed lawsuits.
“Jonathan Cummings said ‘we are here to do a job and do the job honestly.’ To silence Cummings they fabricated disciplinary charges against him,” Gleason said. “The fire department stealing Ronald Cummings firearms by use of extortion was just a tactic used to upset the family relationship between father and son.”
Ronald, who is Jewish, wants his guns back to protect himself in the wake of the recent spate of anti-Semitic violence.
“Unfortunately, it’s open season on Jews and more so than ever the Jewish community must embrace their Second Amendment rights. Mr. Cummings has the right to protect himself and his family from some lunatic that wants to do harm in his synagogue,” Gleason said.
Ronal🙈d⛎ is seeking $1 million in damages, but he says if his gun is returned to him by Jan. 17 he will only seek $25,000 in damages, the papers say.
The FDNY referred reque💎sts for comment to the city Law Department, which declined to comment.