Update, 2:58 p.m.: Alexis Wiley, a spokeswoman for Mayor Mike Duggan, tells WDIV-TV the city paid the bill Firefighter Scott Kasinec racked up for a previous injury, but Kasinec received a bill for the treatment by mistake.
Earlier: A Detroit firefighter who fell into the basement of a home early Tuesday says he refused to be taken to the hospital because he’s afraid the city won’t pay the bill.
Scott Kasinec, spoke to WDIV-TV's Shawn Ley from the scene on Maiden Street, on Detroit's east side. He said he fell through the first floor of the home and into the basement when he and other firefighters were taking a hose into the home and the floor collapsed.
“My helmet came off. If I didn’t have all of this safety equipment on, I probably would have been hurt really bad. But I’m good. The guys did a good job and rescued me," Kasinec told WDIV.
When asked why he wasn't being transported to the hospital, Kasinec said, “There’s reasons why I’m not going to the doctor. The city’s not paying the bills.”
Kasinec said after he hurt his knee at an earlier fire the city failed to pay $800 in physical therapy bills.
“I’m not going to accumulate another bill," he said.
The city's public safety employees have long complained about the city's poor bill-paying, even before it entered Chapter 9 bankruptcy last year.
