MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -
A Murfreesboro woman wants a city firefighter disciplined after he berated her on his Facebook page.
Vanessa Ighodaro told Nashville's News 2 she was treated by firefighters last week after she fell ill.
During that time, firefighter Gregory Burt snapped a picture of her and uploaded it to his Facebook page with the text, "So the sign says homeless, but she lives in the hotel behind her. She checks in at 300 plus pounds (I know, because we transported it). She gets food stamps and healthcare. Wondering what your [TennCare] and Medicare/Medicaid is being used for! Tired of supporting it and others like it! Disgusting!"
"When I was doing this, I didn't know the firefighter was taking my picture and calling me disgusting and all that and I'm [an] 'it,'" Ighodaro said during an interview Wednesday.
Burt denies treating the woman, and in a statement to Nashville's News 2, the Murfreesboro Fire and Rescue Department said, in part, "The city does not anticipate investigating this matter further based on these facts."
Ighodaro said she is disabled and out of work. She is also responsible for her adult handicap daughter who is mildly retarded and has ADHD.
She told Nashville's News 2 she and her daughter, on many days, are standing on a Murfreesboro street corner begging for money.
"I don't like going out there and having to ask people," she said. "Some [people] help us, some don't."
Ighodaro added some are purposely mean.
Last week, she claims an ambulance driver got on his loud speaker and told her to get a job.
Ighodaro said she would like to meet Burt and show him that she's not an "it" but a human being who is struggling.
"It kind of hurt me hard, you know. Why would somebody do that and don't even know about me?" she asked, adding, "Just thinking that we're out there trying to get money for something else."
Burt has not been disciplined for the post.
A local attorney told Nashville's News 2 if an employer doesn't have a clear social media policy, they could face a lawsuit for disciplining an employee for something they post online.
Vanessa Ighodaro wants the fireman to be disciplined for his post on Facebook.
Photo courtesy of the Daily News Journal
