'Inadequate' Process Allowed Delray Beach, FL, Firefighter with Suspended License to Drive Rig

An investigation into how a Delray Beach Fire Rescue employee was operating vehicles with a suspended driver’s license, spurred by a Brightline crash with a fire truck, concluded that two fire chiefs were not at fault but the process of reviewing licenses is “inadequate.”

The report, completed Feb. 18, looked into how the fire truck driver, David Michael Wyatt, was able to operate city vehicles for months with a suspended license in 2023, prior to the crash, finding that he was not the only Fire Rescue employee to continue to work for an extended period of time while having a suspended license.

The report comes seven weeks after the city announced it had suspended four employees as it investigated “policies and procedures” following the crash: Wyatt, Assistant Fire Chief Kevin Green, Division Chief Todd Lynch, and Captain Brian Fiorey.

The investigation into the licenses cleared Green and Lynch of any wrongdoing, instead finding that the fire department’s own procedures and its past monitoring of suspended licenses were to blame. Green has retired, while Lynch will return to work. Wyatt and Fiorey remain suspended as the city continues a separate investigation into the crash itself.

Wyatt recently received a traffic citation for the crash.

The license investigation was launched in January with a focus on Wyatt’s driving record, according to notices of suspension sent to Green and Lynch by Fire Rescue Chief Ronald Martin, “following information recently brought to (his) attention.”

While Wyatt had a valid license at the time of the crash, he had operated city vehicles with a suspended license from August to December 2023, according to the report.

The report found that the fire department’s process for checking its employees’ licenses involved scrolling through hundreds of pages of a PDF document from the DMV and checking if any licenses were marked as suspended or expired, a process that was so confusing that “even experienced personnel found it challenging to determine the actual status of licenses.” The PDF was also generated annually, Green told the consultants, “which might not reflect current license statuses if changes occurred after the report was generated.”

At the time that Wyatt’s license was suspended, the review was not Green’s or Lynch’s responsibility but that of a different employee, Chief Greg Giaccone. Giaccone was not investigated or otherwise mentioned in the report.

Giaccone handed over the responsibility to Lynch in May 2024. He was told to scroll through the PDF, check for the validity and expiration dates of licenses, and notify Giaccone if anyone currently had a suspended or expired license. His review did not flag Wyatt, however, because his license had already been reinstated at that point and it was not Lynch’s responsibility to look into past suspensions.

“Chief Lynch’s testimony underscores the need for clearer procedures and better communication regarding the status of driver’s licenses to prevent personnel from operating vehicles while their licenses are suspended,” the report states.

Later, Lynch went back and looked at past records to find that 10 employees had had their licenses suspended in the past but had all resolved them by May 2024, according to the report. One had his license suspended for close to a year before finding out it was suspended when informed by Giaccone. Still, when employees did find out, they worked quickly to resolve the issue with their license, the report found.

“The investigation revealed that though efforts were made to ensure that all personnel operating City vehicles did so with a valid driver’s license, the review process for driver’s licenses was inadequate and had gaps due to focusing only on current status without considering historical suspensions,” the report concluded. ” … The investigation found no evidence of policy violations by the Chiefs, but it highlighted significant gaps in the Department’s procedures for monitoring and reporting driver’s license statuses.”

Wyatt’s license

Consultants also interviewed Wyatt over his suspended license, in which he said he had not realized it was suspended until January of this year.

Wyatt had received a license suspension over a failure to complete driving school after an off-duty crash in 2023, court records show. He resolved the issue in December of that year, two months after he was sent the notice of his license suspension in October, though he said he never received the notice.

Instead, he said that he had only learned of his suspension in January of this year “through a Facebook page,” the report says, though the report points out that he had contacted the police in December 2023 asking what he needed to do to fix the fact that he had missed driving school. He was told he needed to pay a ticket.

“Wyatt attempts to excuse the fact that he operated a City vehicle while having a suspended license by claiming that he was not aware of the suspension until January, 2025,” the report states. “However, the documentation, timing, and his own actions, indicate that he was in fact aware by at least December, 2023 of the status and suspension of his license for failure to comply with the requirement that he take the driving class or pay the ticket.”

‘Humiliating’

Lynch announced his reinstatement in a Facebook post Monday evening while adding that he was humiliated by the experience, blaming a public statement from Martin releasing his name and the names of three other employees who were suspended and tying them all to the Brightline crash, even though he said the investigation had nothing to do with the accident.

“Not only was (the public statement) before an investigation had taken place, but before I was even asked a single question,” Lynch wrote. “This impugned my character and compounded confusion and embarrassment I was already feeling.”

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On Jan. 3, Lynch said in his social media post, he was escorted off of city property after being notified of his suspension.

“While this was humiliating and embarrassing enough, it got even worse when there was an intentional posting on facebook releasing my name and the fact I was suspended,” he wrote.

Within two hours of Lynch finding out about his suspension, he said, the city shared a release attributed to Martin titled “Fire Truck/Brightline Train Collision Update.” The statement announced the suspension of Lynch and the three other Fire Rescue employees.

It said their suspensions were “pending the results of an internal administrative investigation to determine if City and Fire Rescue policies and procedures were followed.” It did not elaborate on the investigation or say that it had to do with license suspensions.

Lynch said Martin’s statement was “extremely misleading as the ‘issue’ I was being suspended for occurred 7 months prior to the train incident and had zero contribution to that tragic event.”

After news stories about his suspension spread, Lynch said he had to explain to friends, family members and neighbors what he had done “wrong,” despite the fact that he didn’t “and still don’t” know what he was accused of. He was also “ordered not to discuss the circumstances or acts related to this assignment with employees of the City of Delray Beach,” according to the notice of suspension, which he said made him “unable to publicly defend myself.”

“I honorably served my Country for 6 years in the US Army followed by selflessly serving my City for over 25 years,” Lynch wrote. “I served both with character, honor, and integrity. To say I am disappointed in the way this situation was handled is quite the understatement.”

At the time of Martin’s statement, firefighters and members of the firefighters’ union, IAFF Local 1842, also condemned the release of the names.

“Accountability and transparency are essential to public trust, but Chief Martin’s actions show a clear prioritization of optics and appearances over the rights and protections of his own personnel,” a Jan. 3 statement from the union read.

“We stand with our brother Todd Lynch after an unfair and misleading public disclosure of his suspension,” the union said in a post sharing his comments Monday evening. “Linking him to an unrelated tragedy was irresponsible and damaging. Every firefighter deserves due process and respect. We remain committed to protecting our members from unfair treatment.”

A city spokesperson did not respond to multiple emails seeking a response to Lynch’s comments, but announced the conclusion of the investigation in a news release.

“The safety of our residents and the integrity of our Fire Rescue operations are top priorities,” City Manager Terrence Moore said in a statement shared in the release. “While this investigation identified areas where administrative processes could be improved, it also reaffirmed that our personnel acted in good faith. Moving forward, we will take proactive steps to strengthen our policies and oversight to prevent similar issues in the future.”

The union president did not return an email or voicemail. Lynch did not comment further when reached by the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

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