Investigation begins after video shows woman in a bikini exiting San Jose firetruck - Los Angeles Times
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Investigation begins after video shows woman in a bikini exiting San Jose firetruck

A firetruck on a street.
A San Jose Fire Department firetruck.
(Gado via Getty Images)
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The San Jose Fire Department has started an investigation after a video posted online purportedly showed a woman in a bikini getting out of an idling firetruck in front of a strip club.

The video was posted by an Instagram user with a private account and reposted by the account San Jose Foos. It shows a door on the firetruck swing open and a woman in a bikini slowly descend the steps and close the door behind her. She strolls toward the entrance to the Pink Poodle Strip Club in San Jose while wearing high heels.

The video includes the caption, “Only in San Jose do you see a stripper come out of a firetruck.”

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A person who answered the phone at the Pink Poodle on Friday declined to comment about the video.

The San Jose Fire Department announced it had started an investigation but provided few details.

“The department has become aware of a concerning video posted on social media,” Fire Chief Robert Sapien Jr. said in a statement. “An investigation has been initiated to determine facts surrounding the video.”

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San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo was more direct in his outrage over the episode.

“If the investigation concludes that this video is as bad as it looks, then heads must roll,” Liccardo said in a statement. “We cannot have a life-critical emergency rescue apparatus relegated to a frat party bus, nor tolerate any conduct that so demeans the heroic work of the rest of our SJFD team.”

He called Sapien “one of our nation’s finest chiefs” whom he expects to “respond accordingly.”

The Fire Department said in a statement that if its investigation finds there was “inappropriate behavior of any department members, appropriate steps will be taken to address the matter.”

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