NYPD investigating alleged brawl involving firefighters

The Salty Dog bar and restaurant in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, is known for an interior that looks like a firehouse. It naturally attracts a firefighter clientele.

But the New York Police Department is looking into allegations that about a dozen off-duty firefighters turned the Salty Dog into their own version of fight night late last Friday by beating up four civilians.

The brawl reportedly started when one of the civilians spilled his drink on a firefighter. That turned into a full-fledged melee that police said left the civilians injured.

"We are doing an investigation," an NYPD spokesman said last night. "Four complainants said they were assaulted by a group of firemen and we are looking to identify [the firefighters]."

The Salty Dog had a surveillance camera on the premises and police are reviewing the recording, the spokesman said. Neither the managers nor owners of the restaurant, which one patron said caters to off-duty cops and military, could be reached late Thursday. The NYPD said the Brooklyn district attorney's office was monitoring the investigation.

A spokesman for the FDNY Thursday said its bureau of investigations and trials - a disciplinary unit - was cooperating with the Department of Investigation in its probe. However, a DOI spokesman said the NYPD was conducting the investigation.

A police official said one of the civilians was treated at a hospital and the next day reported the incident to the NYPD.

Since none of the alleged assailants has been identified, no member of the FDNY has been suspended or disciplined, a spokesman said.