South Bend firefighter Jordan Jostes is being fired for having a knife at work, and we're talking Crocodile Dundee ("Now, THIS is a knife") proportions:
Jostes, in a written report filed a few days after the knife was discovered, wrote he brought the knife because the duty manual banned firearms and he wanted to have something available for self-defense.
But the duty manual actually bans both firearms and weapons — and the definition of "weapon" is likely to be a central discussion in the safety board's decision.
Jostes, under questioning by attorney Chip Lewis, told the board that he always considered knives — all knives — as tools, not weapons. He said he began carrying a pocketknife as a young child and, at age 9, began sleeping with a knife under his pillow after being scared by the movie "Jurassic Park."
"I generally carry one on me," Jostes said. "But it's not a weapon, it's a tool."
A tool is involved here, but I do not think it is the knife.
