Arroyo has 2 days to prove disability

Fire chief says Hub firefighter must show medical support of back injury

Boston's fire commissioner is giving embattled firefighter Albert Arroyo 48 hours to get another medical opinion supporting his assertion that he suffered a career-ending back injury in March that entitles him to disability pension.

The ruling came after a closed hearing at the Fire Department's Roxbury headquarters, in which Arroyo faced Fire Commissioner Roderick Fraser for the first time since the Globe reported that Arroyo competed in a bodybuilding competition weeks after his March 21 report that he was permanently disabled.

Following the hourlong hearing before a panel of Fraser and two other Fire Department officials, Arroyo stood stone-faced before a bank of cameras and reporters outside the building while his lawyer, Neil Osborne, vigorously denied that the former city fire inspector had ever lied about his injury.

"Mr. Arroyo has done absolutely nothing wrong," Osborne said, adding that his client's bodybuilding was part of a rehabilitation regimen recommended by a physical trainer. "There has been a swirl of information, based on being seen in a bodybuilding video, that he has somehow committed fraud. Nothing could be further from the truth.

"All that Mr. Arroyo did was try to get better," Osborne said.

Arroyo applied to the Boston Retirement Board for a disability pension after reporting that he slipped on a staircase March 21. There were no witnesses to the incident. Dr. John Mahoney, a Dorchester neurologist, determined that Arroyo was "totally and permanently disabled," Mahoney said in a report to the board. Arroyo later participated in a bodybuilding competition, which was videotaped.

The Retirement Board has rejected Arroyo's disability application, saying the paperwork was incomplete.

Fraser responded by ordering Arroyo to return to work in July. When the firefighter did not show, Fraser removed him from the city payroll Aug. 4, calling his failure to work a voluntary separation from the department. Arroyo appealed that decision, and Fraser scheduled yesterday's hearing so Arroyo could plead his case.

Osborne offered a glimpse of Arroyo's position in remarks to a group of television, radio, and newspaper reporters who awaited the firefighter's first public appearance since his bodybuilding video hit the Internet. Arroyo, dressed in a dark suit, along with his lawyer, walked a block down Southampton Street in Roxbury to Fire Department headquarters with a half-dozen television cameras pointed at him. He remained silent as they walked in and as his lawyer spoke to reporters after the hearing, staring straight ahead and clasping his hands in front of him.

Osborne said that Arroyo began having back problems as early as 2000 and that he began working out with a physical trainer in 2003 as a way of avoiding back surgery. He said Arroyo wants time to get verification of his injuries from a doctor other than Mahoney, who has also drawn criticism from Fraser for his role in signing off on other questionable firefighter disability claims. The lawyer said his client has not determined whether he wants to return to work for the department.

The panel of Fraser; Karen Glasgow, deputy commissioner for labor and legal affairs; and Michael Doherty, chief of personnel, put off ruling on Arroyo's appeal for at least 48 hours, said Fire Department spokesman Steve MacDonald.

Fraser "gave him 48 hours to produce more documentation," MacDonald said, adding that Fraser continues to doubt the disability claim. "The commissioner hasn't changed his opinion on that. However, we are letting Albert Arroyo submit the documentation that he says he has."

John C. Drake can be reached at jdrake@globe.com.