The two have been on administrative duty since the April 25 incident, and will remain in that status until the legal proceedings are concluded, according to D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department spokesperson Vito Maggiolo.

They pleaded not guilty Tuesday and were released until trial, court records show.

The man, who prosecutors said harassed other firefighters, was initially arrested on a charge of assaulting a police officer, but the U.S. attorney’s office in the District declined to prosecute him.

The D.C. Firefighters Association, International Association of Fire Fighters Local 36, said in a Tuesday statement that they were disappointed in the charges and stressed that firefighter training does not include de-escalation strategies. D.C. firefighters gathered in front of a D.C. police station Tuesday morning “to support their members as they turned themselves in,” according to Local 36.

“These firefighters reacted quickly to a dangerous situation to protect the citizens and themselves,” said Dave Hoagland, president of Local 36, in the statement. “Right now, our involved firefighters need to know that we support them through these difficult times.”

Phil Andonian, an attorney for Sinon, in a statement said he was “deeply troubled” by the U.S. attorney’s decision to prosecute his client. “Our first responders deserve much better than this,” he said. An attorney for Ecleo could not immediately be reached.

Attempts to locate the man for comment were unsuccessful.

The incident occurred shortly before 11:30 p.m. in the unit block of Florida Avenue NW, after firefighters responded to a report of an accident involving a Metro Bus, according to charging documents. At the scene, they noticed two people who appeared to be under the influence of narcotics and started treating them with Narcan.

At that point, according to charging documents, the man approached firefighters and got in their faces. Firefighters called D.C. police for assistance, but before police arrived, the man struck Sinon in the face twice “with a closed fist, unprovoked,” the documents said.

While multiple firefighters attempted to intervene, Sinon appeared to “swing his arm/hand” at the man seven times, according to the documents.

After firefighters had the man surrounded and pinned to the ground by an on-duty D.C. firefighter, Ecleo appeared to kick him in the head and Sinon appeared to punch him twice in the left side of his upper body, prosecutors said in charging documents.

D.C. police officers pushed Sinon away after he punched the man, the charging document said.

Ecleo then “placed his knee on the head” of the man, at which point D.C. police intervened to push him away, according to charging documents.

Sinon, in a written statement quoted in charging documents, said the man became so angry that he “started to throw punches” and that Sinon’s team “managed to tackle him to the ground and contain him” as police arrived.

Ecleo declined to provide a statement to prosecutors or D.C. police officers on the scene, according to the charging document.

The man also declined to provide a statement to prosecutors but told D.C. police officers on the scene that he had been beaten up by D.C. firefighters, and that they hit him first.

In videos recorded of the incident by onlookers and a TV news camera operator, the man, who police said is in his 40s and has no fixed address, can be seen on the pavement being punched and kicked by firefighters. The videos do not show the alleged provocation.

Peter Hermann contributed to this report.