UPDATE: Cops Vs Firefighters Charity Softball Game

EAST HAVEN, CT — Under the cloak of darkness, police kidnapped fire dog and mascot Sparky. It's not a pretty sight.

And cops admitted it. Even posted it on Facebook with the ransom demand: Donate or else.

The day before, firefighters taunted cops by mocking their alleged love of doughnuts as a way to learn to hit a softball.

"To give our brothers in blue a better chance to compete with us at the charity softball game on October 22, we have designed a mechanism to assist them in making contact with the ball. It’s up to them now to imagine during the game that the ball is a donut."

(Patch can attest that EHPD are fans: as a box of doughnut holes were delivered on Thursday.)

East Haven police and firefighters have been having a blast going at each on other social media, and the radio, in advance of the inaugural Battle of the Heroes softball game set for Tuesday Oct. 22 at 6:30 p.m. at Deer Run School in East Haven.

With this kind of promotion, and hundreds of people taking sides, sharing hysterical posts, voting for their team, and generally promoting the game, the winners won't be either of the teams, but their respective charities.

The East Haven Emergency Services softball game has the East Haven Police playing in honor of Domestic Violence Survivors and will be raising money for the Umbrella Center for Domestic Violence Services. East Haven firefighters will be playing in honor of Cancer Survivors and those we have lost to Cancer and will be raising money for Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale New Haven.

From Facebook to the airwaves, cops went on the radio to "razz" firefighters.

On Monday Oct. 7, Lt. Joseph Murgo and Sgt. Joe Mulhern were in the Chaz and AJ in the Morning 99.1 WPLR "talking smack!"

"We wanted to razz the fire department a little bit," Murgo told Patch after he and Mulhern appeared on the morning radio show, "to get their support."

"We work side by side with the East Haven Fire Department every day and have an awesome working relationship with them, which is why messing with them on the radio is so much fun. With the stressful nature of our jobs, it’s a nice change to get together with them to do something fun for such great causes."

At around 16:50 on the audio, Murgo said police "have the best team."

The host broke in to say, "Yeah, when firefighters steal bases, the cops arrest them."

Sticking with the doughnut theme, a firefighter calls into the show to ask, "Where's the practice? Dunkin' Donuts?"

By late Friday night, brazen cops, not only kidnapped Sparky, but shared "video of the heist."

Here's the ransom demand:

"Dear East Haven Fire Department,

We have Sparky.

We have swooped in under the cloak of darkness and have stolen your prized possession.
If you want any chance of ever seeing Sparky again, you will donate to the Police Department’s Battle of the Heroes charity, The Umbrella Center for Domestic Violence Services immediately.

To see how this all ends, join us at Deer Run School on October 22,2019 to see us defeat the EHFD in a friendly game of Softball!

To donate to our charity, stop down at the PD, request an officer come to your house or business to pick up a check, or Venmo us at @EHPDUNION.

To donate to the FDs charity, Smilow Cancer Hospital, follow East Haven Firefighters Local 1205 for further details.

Ohh this is gonna be fun!!!"

But firefighters may have had the last laugh on the Sparky kidnapping. They've used it to their advantage knowing police wouldn't harm a hair of his (fake) fur.

We hope.

An update the day before the big game:

Ho, boy! The lead-up to the Battle of the Heroes game was no joke.

Then ...

Finally, after weeks of razzing each other, the big game. So who won?

There's not one single thing we all don't love about this and cannot wait til next year!