The Fire Department's investigation into allegations that a drunken off-duty firefighter groped one female volunteer and exposed himself to another at a soup kitchen run by nuns appears to be sinking in the proverbial San Francisco quicksand.
Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White has said getting to the bottom of what happened during an Aug. 29 barbecue outside the soup kitchen by 30 off-duty firefighters is a "top priority."
Dozens of firefighters from stations in Noe Valley and the Bayview have been brought in for questioning about what happened after the partyers returned from an afternoon Giants game to the soup kitchen building on Third Street, which is also used by the firefighters union's Toys for Tots program.
Although there has been no official complaint, the cops are also looking into the incident.
Even Mayor Gavin Newsom has gotten involved, listening to the tape of the 911 call that day from one of the nuns with Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity.
"I've been down myself and talked with the nuns," Hayes-White said. "They confirmed that something happened, but for whatever reason, the two women don't want to press the case at this time."
Sources close to the case tell us Fire Department investigators have zeroed in on one or two firefighters. But without positive IDs, getting any further will be difficult.
Added twist: One of the targets of the investigation let it be known that he wasn't going to take the fall and that the real culprit had three days to come forward, or else.
At that point, the guy who may have done the groping did what everyone seems to do in these situations.
He went into rehab.
