"Alluding to a violent act to be conducted against a sitting U-S Congressman, a member of our government, we're not going to tolerate that," Police Chief Arthur Lawson said.
July 22, 2019

We posted this disturbing story yesterday at Crooks and Liars. The Gretna police chief Arthur Lawson became aware of the offensive post on Friday afternoon. Today he terminated the officer who posted the offensive material, and another one who liked his post.

Good.

Source: NBC News

A Louisiana police officer was fired on Monday over a Facebook post he made last week suggesting Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., be shot.

The officer, Charlie Rispoli, a 14-year veteran of the Gretna, Louisiana, police force, called Ocasio-Cortez a "vile idiot" who "needs a round, and I don't mean the kind she used to serve," referring to her past job as a bartender, according to a screenshot posted by nola.com, the website for The Times-Picayune in New Orleans. According to the news outlet, his comment was a reaction to a fake quote attributed to the congresswoman claiming that "we pay soldiers too much." Both his post and Facebook account have since been taken down.

Gretna's police chief, Arthur Lawson, said in a news conference on Monday that both Rispoli and another officer who liked the post were terminated. He called the situation an "embarrassment to our department" and "very, very disappointing."

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez responded to the news on twitter.

Can you help us out?

For nearly 20 years we have been exposing Washington lies and untangling media deceit, but now Facebook is drowning us in an ocean of right wing lies. Please give a one-time or recurring donation, or buy a year's subscription for an ad-free experience. Thank you.

Discussion

We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.
Mastodon