ORANGE COUNTY, Florida (NBC) -- A Florida firefighter has been fired and another has been demoted in connection with a road rage incident in Orange County.
Fire officials said a video was released showing Orange County fire engineer David Jordan driving a 15-ton truck and tailgating a car, whose driver wouldn't move over, last May 1.
Investigators said Jordan nearly hits the car several times, even though he has room to go around the car.
The car then gets into the left turn lane, which investigators said, by law it should have pulled off on the right shoulder and stopped for the emergency vehicle.
Still, the right two lanes are clear for the fire truck to pass.
Instead, Jordan swerves left, cutting off the car, so the lieutenant can flip off the driver, fire officials said.
Fire officials said the fire truck hit a curb after nearly hitting the car, which could have caused a crash and injured or killed the four firefighters on board and people nearby.
Jordan's boss, Lt. Thomas Veal, was seated on the passenger side and was not wearing a seat belt, fire officials said.
"I don't know what the actual road rage definition is, but would I say it's overly aggressive? Yes. We're not going to tolerate that here," said Orange County Fire and Rescue Division Chief Brian Morrow. "They're very, very lucky it was a near miss. They didn't roll the truck and they never would have made it to the call."
Morrow said Jordan, a 22-year fire department veteran, was fired while Veal was demoted to firefighter just months after being called a hero in a Christmas Day fire.
Supervisors said Veal made two big mistakes: He was not wearing a seat belt and did not order Jordan to lay off.
"We felt the company officer should have a grasp what was going on," said Morrow.
"We have to be the professionals and the calm ones," said Felix Benitez, trustee of the Orlando Professional Firefighters International Association of Firefighters Local 1365 Union. "We need to be cautious when getting to an emergency, so we don't create another emergency."
Jordan may appeal the firing in the next week.
Veal can also contest the demotion.
The fire department said it doesn't know the identity of the driver who was caught up in the road rage incident.
The rig did get damaged and had to temporarily be taken out of service.
