Attorney for Greene family adds plaintiff in lawsuit

A lawyer representing the family of slain stripper Tamara Greene has added another plaintiff in a related whistle-blower lawsuit against the city.

The whistle-blower suit claims a Detroit Fire Department EMT was fired improperly. It was brought by Birmingham attorney Norman Yatooma.

The EMT, Douglas Bayer of Monroe, says he was harassed, threatened and eventually fired because he provided information to the State Police about the rumored-but-still-unproven Manoogian Mansion party.

The suit was amended Thursday to claim a second fire department employee, a paramedic named Fawn Colombatto, was also fired improperly in August for refusing to say Bayer, her former partner, is a liar.

Bayer was fired in June after nearly nine years. Colombatto, who lives in Keego Harbor, was fired in August after 5 years. She was added to the suit Thursday, as was a new defendant: city attorney Andrew Jarvis, who Yatooma says helped get the pair fired illegally.

Yatooma is asking for tens of thousands in restitution for the pair — if not more — he said.

He is also representing Greene’s family in a lawsuit alleging the city thwarted an investigation into her death.

Bayer insists he saw the mayor and a group of top bodygaurds at Detroit Receiving Hospital in 2002, and that he was told a woman was brought in for treatment that same night. Yatooma alleges that woman was Greene.

“They should have been able to keep their jobs,” said Yatooma. “They shouldn’t lose them because they told the truth.”

But according to Fire Department documents, Yatooma’s clients were fired for stealing a small amount of medical equipment — something they have denied.

The case is before the Monroe County Circuit Court.

Mayoral spokesman James Canning said, “We don’t comment on pending litigation.”