Bodybuilding firefighter Arroyo won't be reinstated

By Donovan Slack, Globe Staff

Boston fire officials will not reinstate bodybuilder Albert Arroyo as a firefighter, despite his submitting medical documentation today to bolster his claim that he is so severely disabled that he could not return to his job as a fire inspector, according to two senior public officials.

Fire Commissioner Roderick Fraser and two other fire officials reviewed the documentation, which arrived at fire headquarters by courier shortly after noon, and decided it wasn't enough to warrant Arroyo's reinstatement.

Fraser ordered Arroyo removed from the department payroll two weeks ago after Arroyo failed to show up to work for two weeks in defiance of an order from Fraser. The commissioner told him to return to work in July after viewing a video of Arroyo participating in a bodybuilding contest just two weeks after he had claimed his was totally and permanently disabled and unable to work as a fire inspector any longer.

Arroyo appealed Fraser's decision at a hearing on Tuesday and the commissioner gave Arroyo 48 hours to submit additional medical records that back up his contention that he is too disabled to work.

Arroyo, 46, had applied for a disability pension after reportedly injuring his back on March 21, when he slipped on a fire house staircase in Jamaica Plain. It was an incident no one witnessed at a station where he wasn't assigned to work. His doctor, Dorchester neurologist Dr. John F. Mahoney, wrote two weeks later that Arroyo was so severely injured that he was permanenetly incapacitated and should be granted a disability pension. But on May 3, Arroyo placed 8th in the Pro Natural American bodybuilding championships, which was videotaped.

Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com.

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