A Louisiana police chief said that there would be an investigation into a police officer after he made a post on Facebook suggesting Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) should be shot.
The comment was posted by Gretna police officer Charlie Rispoli, an officer in the town since 2005.
Police Chief Arthur Lawson, alerted to the post by nola.com, said it was disturbing.
“I will tell you this: This will not go unchecked. I’m not going to take this lightly and this will be dealt with on our end. It’s not something we want someone that’s affiliated with our department to make these types of statements. That’s not going to happen,” Lawson said.
He said that Rispoli’s post wasn’t a threat but did appear to violate his department’s policy guiding posts on social media posts.
“Whether you agree or disagree with the message of these elected officials and how frustrated you may or may not get, this certainly is not the type of thing that a public servant should be posting,” he said.
The post by Rispoli, which was later deleted, was sharing an article about remarks Ocasio-Cortez allegedly made about the budget.
“This vile idiot needs a round,” Rispoli wrote. “And I don’t mean the kind she used to serve,” he added, referring to the lawmaker’s past job as a bartender. The post he shared appeared to be from a website that is labeled as satirical.
Commenting on his own post, Rispoli added: “It must be hard living with the IQ of a Chiclet.”
Rafael Goyeneche, president of the watchdog Metropolitan Crime Commission, told nola.com that the comment was inappropriate at best.
“The police are held to a higher standard of professionalism,” he said. “Even if this is not actually advocating somebody shoot someone, it’s totally inappropriate for a law enforcement officer to make this poor attempt at humor. All he did was discredit law enforcement in general and his department in particular.”
Ocasio-Cortez did not respond to a request for comment on the suggestion while Rispoli was also unavailable, nola.com reported.
Lawson, the police chief, said there would be an investigation and possible disciplinary action but if there were it would not be reported publicly.
Ocasio-Cortez, a self-described Democratic socialist, has been elevated by friends and foes to one of the top faces of the left since being elected last year. The 29-year-old is often vilified by opponents, which include some within her own party, but staunchly supported by allies.
This is on the Illinois Republican County Chairmen’s Association’s Facebook site: pic.twitter.com/0qzKsiRzzq
— Rick Pearson (@rap30) July 21, 2019
Illinois GOP Group Removes Meme
An Illinois Republican group pulled an image it shared of Ocasio-Cortez and her three close allies—Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.)—who are known as the “Squad.”
The image showed the four of them in a made up movie poster titled “The Jihad Squad.”
In a statement, Mark Shaw, the president of the group, the Republican County Chairmen’s Association of Illinois, said he didn’t approve of the image.
“A couple of days ago, an image which was not authorized by me was posted on the Facebook page of the Illinois Republican County Chairmen’s Association (‘RCCA’). I condemn this unauthorized posting and it has been deleted. I am sorry if anyone who saw the image was offended by the contents,” he wrote.
“This unauthorized posting is an unfortunate distraction from the serious debate surrounding the policies advocated by these four socialist members of the United States House of Representatives of which I strongly disagree. Republican opposition to their proposed ‘Green New Deal,’ elimination of all private health insurance, open borders, and anti-Semitic posturing has nothing to do with these Representative’s races or religion,” he added.
The Cook County Democratic Party said in a statement that the image was racist.
“On Friday, the Illinois Republican County Chairman’s Association posted a racist and inflammatory attack on Facebook directed at four Democratic congresswomen,” said Toni Preckwinkle, chair of the group. “The post perpetuates the recent attacks by President Trump, promoting lies and racism to alienate immigrants, women, and people of color. This language of hatred and bigotry has no room in our society and has dangerous consequences.”
