KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – Even before the crash in Westport that killed three people in December of 2021, police records reveal the driver of the pumper, 21-year-old Dominic Biscari, crashed an ambulance on a run.
He also crashed into a police car while driving his personal vehicle as he was pulling into the firehouse parking lot. In addition, there was an email warning supervisors that Biscari was a dangerous driver.
KCTV5 has reported on the 323-page report on the investigation. It showed how staffing shortages meant a 21-year-old driver was behind the wheel. The report also revealed the lack of training and a communications failure.
KCTV5′s Investigative Team has uncovered additional information after studying just-released video and audio recordings from the police crash investigation. Every piece gives a better understanding of the crash and building collapse.
We found an interview a whistleblower did with police after the fatal crash. This whistleblower sent the email. The interview was not included in the first batch of records released to KCTV5. While it was primarily about the email the whistleblower sent to supervisors three months before the crash, buried in the interview, one stunning revelation.
“The first day after he was released (from training) he did, in fact, wreck an ambulance by turning illegally in the middle of an intersection — he pulled a U-turn,” the whistleblower told police.
Our investigative team submitted an open records request to confirm the details of the ambulance crash. It was then that we learned of another crash involving Biscari. The report shows Biscari crashed his personal vehicle into a police cruiser in the firehouse parking lot. It was after the ambulance crash, and before the email./cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/BRH43BD6CZAX5CXEFNC7IVGIL4.png)
In the Sept. 29, 2021 email, the whistleblower recounts a rough shift with Biscari as an ambulance driver. The subject line is “Horrendous driving.” It was sent to supervisors three months before the Westport crash.
It details speeding, rough driving, and Biscari’s response.
“I scream at him to stop. (I) thought he was going to get us killed,” the whistleblower wrote in the email. “I was thrown from the bench seat into the floor, and between the cot and the bench. We had to yell at him multiple times to take it easy—to slow down—because we were dealing with an intubated patient. He didn’t really respond to us hollering.”
And another incident, that same day, “He was going so fast that he was unable to see that the road dropped out, and he basically launched a 14,000-pound truck.”
The email references a previous complaint from another co-worker, and people becoming ill in the ambulance due to Biscari’s driving.
“I refused to work with him after that,” said the whistleblower.
KCTV5 Investigates reached out to an expert to get an outside perspective on these incidents.
Brad Pinsky is a New York attorney and a former fire chief. He’s the author of several books on how departments should be managed and was named Training Officer of the Year by the International Association of Fire Chiefs.
“Anytime you have a concern about a driver’s ability to drive safely and cautiously in an emergency vehicle, then you need to be re-evaluating the ability of that driver,” said Pinsky.
Pinsky says the email alone should have prompted KCFD to remove Biscari as a driver on ambulances, let alone large firetrucks.
But it appears no one even discussed the email with Biscari.
“Every department needs to have an accident and safety committee and every department needs to investigate every single accident,” said Pinsky. “Because one accident alone may mean nothing, but when you start investigating everyone you may find a pattern, and in this case, they probably would have.”
KCTV5′s I-Team has tried to discuss what we learned with KCFD and was told they can’t comment because of ongoing litigation. We also asked if Biscari was allowed to continue driving after the Westport crash — he kept his job for another 13 months. The department spokesperson refused to clarify.
Biscari’s attorney, Kevin Regan, says he did not work as a driver and mostly did administrative duties following the crash.
KCFD fired Biscari once he took an Alford plea to involuntary manslaughter charges connected to the crashes. He will have three years of supervised probation.
Biscari is currently fighting to get his old job back.