Another Day, Another Hoax: No Charges for Firefighter Who Faked His Stabbing Downtown

Remember that firefighter that was stabbed during a rescue at the Cecil Hotel last year, was hailed "Paremedic of the Year," and then questioned heavily after all the "hero" hoopla? LA Now reports that prosecutors will not bring charges of filing a false police report against him "due to the lack of sufficient evidence."Charles Anthony MacDougall, the city firefighter in question, was placed on administrative leave last summer as the investigation into the Cecil Hotel stabbing was pursued. At the time of the incident MacDougall claimed he went into the hotel to help someone and was stabbed by that someone, though that someone was never found after an extensive, months-long LAPD hunt.

MacDougall's partner did not see the supposed stabbing assailant either. Surveillance video recovered from the scene show that MacDougall and his partner were "separated for about eight minutes." It is unclear what happened during those eight minutes.

City Attorney spokesman John Franklin would not elaborate on the specifics of the now-over investigation and did not say how MacDougall's stab wounds might have been inflicted.