By: Diane Benjamin

Previous stories: https://blnnews.com/2023/09/30/remember-bloomington-fireman-6/

Right now James Buenrostro is getting paid to not work. He has been since sometime in April. His latest problems began in Indianapolis when many firefighters were there for a convention. Buenrostro’s girlfriend was with in, she has a LONG history of failing to press charges for domestic violence. This Facebook post shows she isn’t afraid to fight back:

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Buenrostro accused her of sleeping with the fire chief in Indianapolis after she fled or was kicked out of their hotel room. She actually took shelter with other firefighters who were there.

The problems didn’t end when they returned to Bloomington. I received two police reports by FOIA. Another domestic violence incident occurred which of course ended with no charges, but Buenrostro was involuntarily committed at Carle. He didn’t stay there long. He was suspended after this incident. He disappeared for awhile, HR has documents from the fire department requesting he be fired. HR hasn’t followed through, he’s relaxing on a paid vacation in the meantime.

This document shows my FOIA request:

This document has two police reports – names are redacted but it’s easy to see who the reports concern:

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Requests for the body cam video were denied. This firefighter and his girlfriend have been long term problems. It’s way past time taxpayers quit funding his vacation. Are they waiting for one of them to die in the next altercation? Is that what she’s waiting for?

Meanwhile, at last night’s Council meeting a long line of firefighters and two police officers were given Lifesaving awards. See the list here: https://d2kbkoa27fdvtw.cloudfront.net/cityblm/d3df096ec787618c5b3c2e537c5918900.pdf

I wish details of why each was honored had been included, this is in the documentation:

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Hit play to hear the presentation, the chief did mention an infant and cardiac patients’ lives were saved. I’m sure there are more stories we didn’t hear. These guys are heros.