When Dr. Jennifer Beard learned her brother died, his firefighter colleagues went to their mother’s house to sit with her while Dr. Beard drove from Boston to be with her on Easter morning.

Beard, a clinical associate professor at the Boston University School of Public Health, after hearing the news that her brother died on the morning of April 12, called on the same firefighters to arrange shifts of company for her mother. Those are the same firefighters that several weeks later would be forced out of the department amid allegations of policy violations that arose after John Beard’s death.

“I live in Boston, and when I got the call that John was dead, I was completely shocked. And I knew I had to call my mother and tell her that not only is dad dead, John is dead too. And then she would have to sit alone in the house while I drove 12 hours to get there. I didn’t know how to handle it,” Beard said. “I remembered I was connected to one of (the ousted firefighters) on Facebook. I sent a message, and he called me within two minutes — on Easter morning. He was crying. They were all at the firehouse and distraught.”

Jennifer and John Beard’s father died two days before John Beard died.

Beard asked her brother’s colleague if he and other firefighters would go to her mom’s house to comfort her.

“They did that, the three of them went to my mom’s and called me when they were in the driveway. I called her and told her and they took over while I listened. They stayed with my mom. They organized for someone to sit with my mom in shifts, from departments all over the Valley. There was this incredible caretaking,” Beard said.

But that positive amid the dark time soon turned when Beard was at her brother’s house going through paperwork. When she figured out how to access her brother’s iPad, investigators were sent there to obtain it, she said. While she liked the idea of an investigation to see where the fatal drugs her brother took came from, she never expected her brother’s conversations with fellow firefighters would lead to their downfall and the tarnishing of her brother’s reputation, she said.

By the time investigators went through 26,000 pages of data, Liberty firefighters Josh Cleland, Justin Graham and Chris Olsen were forced out of the department and Cathy Macchione was demoted.

Beard takes issue with the way Liberty officials described the investigation as being driven by her brother’s family.

“I didn’t ask for this,” Beard said. “They used it as an opportunity to investigate the fire department and didn’t keep me informed. They didn’t even send me a copy of their report (released in May) until I requested it in June. And, we had to find out about his cause of death by seeing it on WFMJ,” Beard said.

What she wanted to find out was where the drugs came from that her brother did the night before he died, not for officials to look through personal messages going back months between her brother and his friends, she said.

The tone of the messages was humorous, she said, and should not have been read literally.

And, Beard said, she doesn’t think the way police obtained the iPad in the first place was proper.

When McDonald police were sent to her brother’s house to get it, she asked how it could be taken without a warrant, but was told her brother had no expectation of privacy because he was dead. But, weeks later, a Liberty police detective asked her to sign a form, backdated to April 24, the day the iPad was taken, declaring she gave permission for it to be searched without a warrant. But when Beard didn’t sign the form immediately — she took issues with a phrase on the form that stated she was told she could say ‘no’ to the warrantless search, because she wasn’t — police asked her mother to sign it, and she did. Beard contends John Beard’s estranged wife was the person who should have been asked to give permission to search the iPad, as his next of kin.

Beard also disagrees with the assessment that the ex-firefighters tried to cover up her brother’s overdose. Although John Beard died from acute fentanyl intoxication, he believed he was doing a line of cocaine the night before he died. Her brother made a bad decision and knew it, but knew he needed help. He planned to tell fire Chief Gus Birch he had a problem and needed help at his shift the next day, Beard said. But after John Beard was discharged by hospital staff, still disoriented and not feeling well, and taken home, he died overnight.

Beard wants to know why her brother, who had heart surgery four years before, was discharged when he was. And, Beard said she is troubled by the portrayal of her brother and his co-workers.

“My brother was not an opioid addict. He was visiting a friend and she offered him a line of cocaine, and he thought to himself ‘why not?’ He was stressed and thought it might be a way to relax. It turns out that cocaine was laced with fentanyl. He made one really bad decision in a split second, and look what happened. But my brother was an ethical person, he was committed to his job and doing the job well and safely,” Beard said.

Beard said her brother and his fellow firefighters may have shared the drugs they were prescribed, but there wasn’t a drug trafficking ring going on, as described by the report released by the township.

“They choose the most cynical way to phrase it. They were all on different medications and prescription drugs. They might run out and ask for some to get them through until the next prescription. I am not saying that is right, but we all do what we do to cope with the stress going on in job and in life,” Beard said.

Another disturbing element to the story is the way the department and township handled a mental health issue, Beard said. Instead of being offered treatment or progressive discipline, they were “demonized,” she said.

Beard teaches about mental health at Boston University School of Public Health.

“It is really well-known that first responders struggle with addiction and are often on different types of mental health medications. At least 50 addiction treatment centers specialize in mental health services for first responders,” Beard said.

“IAFF (International Association of Fire Fighters union) members face unique risks of substance abuse and addiction. The unsettling fact can be traced back to a combination of psychological and physical factors. Fighting fires and saving lives can cause an enormous psychological toll, resulting in nightmares, insomnia, intense stress and even mental health disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and depression,” states information on the IAFF’s recovery center website.

Although a drug policy the township has calls for firefighters to report the medications they are prescribed, the township or department has not been requiring employees to submit the “fit for duty reports,” said Devon Stanley, township trustee. So, the department was not aware of the medications the firefighters were taking. Several messages left with fire Chief Gus Birch were not returned.

The policy also allows the firefighters to request drug treatment once without being penalized. And although the option was raised by the union before the firefighters were forced out, the union “didn’t follow up,” Stanley said.

Mike Wright, president of the local firefighters union, said he could not talk with this newspaper on the advice of legal counsel.

Beard questioned if the union did enough to protect the firefighters.

“If there was any kind of suspicion there was a problem before my brother died, there was ample time for intervention. And, even if they weren’t suspicious before, instead of grilling them in the public eye, they should have been providing mental health intervention and services,” she said.

Stanley said the firefighters were “cavalier” and didn’t seek help.

“These guys never said they had a problem. In fact, they were very cavalier and joking about their drug use, in the text messages. They never asked for help though they knew what was available,” Stanley said.

Beard said the firefighters told her that they were never asked about drug use or if they needed help, “even though (the chief) knew they were devastated by John’s death.”

“Why was the township so ready to ruin people’s reputation? I think that is the thing that really bothers me. My family is suffering and the people that loved my brother and knew him better than I did are collateral damage,” Beard said.

rfox@tribotday.com