Probation given in firefighter hazing incident

Three firefighters and a friend were each sentenced Tuesday in New London Superior Court to a one-year suspended sentence and a year of probation for their roles in a hazing incident last year at the Quaker Hill Firehouse.

Kyle Mordic, 21, of 29 Richards Grove Road, Quaker Hill, Alexandra Tosi, 22, of 24 Stocking Lot Road, East Haddam; Lt. William Betters, 28, of Uncasville, and Capt. Daniel O'Connor, 54, of 158 Old Colchester Road, Quaker Hill, all pleaded no contest to conspiracy to commit unlawful restraint.

Affidavits that supported the warrants for the four arrests said the victim, a 14-year-old member of the department, was bound to a backboard, gagged with duct tape and shot with an air gun last September at the firehouse.

The victim said the incident came after he pulled a chair out from underneath Tosi, who is not a member of the department but was Mordick's girlfriend, at the firehouse. The victim said Tosi became angry, the warrant said.

Several hours after that incident, O'Connor, a captain in the department, summoned the victim, and O'Connor, Lt. William Betters IV, Tosi, Mordick and the three minors started the prank.

The victim told police that he was taped from his chest to his knees. He said Tosi bound his hands with tape. Once he was fully fastened to the backboard, the victim was carried outside and propped up against the front of the fire station. Everyone was outside with the exception of O'Connor, the warrant said.

The victim said the 17-year-old junior member shot him with the air gun in the leg. The teenager then handed the gun to the two other juveniles, who took turns shooting the victim. The victim said they shot him from about 5 feet away, the warrant said.

The 17-year-old was charged with second-degree assault, second-degree reckless endangerment and risk of injury to a minor.

Another member, John Rwieczorek, brought the incident to an end, the warrant said.