Peer board fires Pittsburgh firefighter over DUI

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A three-member trial board of his peers has voted to fire a Pittsburgh fire lieutenant who was arrested three times for drunken driving in a year.

A spokeswoman says Mayor Luke Ravenstahl will sign off on the decision, although 39-year-old Stephen Jasper can appeal to the city’s civil service commission.

Fire Chief Darryl Jones says Jasper was fired after pleading guilty to departmental charges including conduct unbecoming an officer and insubordination.

Jasper was serving probation in a first-offenders program for his arrest Feb. 18, 2010, in Bellevue when he was arrested again Jan. 11 by police in Braddock Hills. He was already under a “last-chance” agreement with the city under which he could not drink by the time of his second arrest. Jones was charged again with drunken driving Feb. 12.

He’s now in an alcohol treatment program.