Rockland County firefighters are calling for District Attorney Tom Walsh to resign for agreeing to a no-jail plea bargain with two people who caused the death of a firefighter and another man in 2021.
Rabbi Nathaniel Sommer, 72, and his son Aaron Sommer, 29, started a fire that destroyed the Evergreen Court senior living facility. The two used a blow torch during a religious ritual to cleanse the facility’s ovens ahead of Passover, and that caused the fire. The pair plead guilty to causing the fire in exchange for a plea bargain that allows both to serve probation instead of a jail sentence.
The fire killed Jared Lloyd, 35, who served with the Spring Valley Volunteer Fire Department for 15 years as well as Oliver Hueston, a resident of the Evergreen Court For Adults that burned in the six-hour fire, Lohud reports.
On Tuesday, Rabbi Nathaniel Sommer pleaded guilty to felony manslaughter. His son, Aaron, pleaded to misdemeanor reckless endangerment. “You robbed us … of any justice,” Sloatsburg Fire Department said in a public letter.
