Louisiana Police Officer Suggests Violence Against Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in Facebook Post
A Louisiana police officer might face disciplinary action for threatening Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a recent since-deleted Facebook post.
Charlie Rispoli, a member of the Gretna police department, reportedly shared an article about Ocasio-Cortez, 29 on his Facebook page as seen in a screenshot of the now-deleted post from Nola.com. The title of the article in the screenshot read “Ocasio-Cortez on the Budget: We Pay Soldiers Too Much.” Alongside the link, Rispoli referred to the Democratic Congresswoman as “vile.”
“This vile idiot needs a round … and I don’t mean the kind she used to serve,” the officer wrote, referring to Ocasio-Cortez’s past work as a bartender, according to the screenshot from Nola.com.
Rispoli, who has also deleted his Facebook page since the controversial post, quickly received criticism, including from Wayne Rau, a city councilman and mayor pro-tem of Gretna.
“I’m pretty appalled by it,” Mr. Rau said, according to The New York Times. “I don’t think this is a representation of the police department of the city of Gretna.”
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However, Rau would not divulge if he considered Rispoli’s comments to be threatening, adding, “I’m not sure how to take that post.” He also said that the city’s police chief, Arthur Lawson, should be the decision maker when it comes to any disciplinary or criminal action taken against Rispoli.
Gretna Police Department and a representative for Ocasio-Cortez did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s requests for comment.
In a statement to Nola.com, Chief Lawson harshly denounced Rispoli’s words against Ocasio-Cortez.
“I will tell you this: This will not go unchecked,” Lawson said. “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.”
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Lawson added that he did not feel that Rispoli’s comment constitutes an actual threat, but does violate the department’s social media policy.
“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 article that Rispoli shared, which came from Tatersgonnatate.com, was marked as “satire” and “false” by the fact-checking website Snopes.
Rispoli’s commentary follows President Donald Trump‘s continued attacks on Ocasio-Cortez and her fellow minority Democratic Congresswomen, dubbed “The Squad,” whom Trump said should “go back” to the “totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”
Ocasio-Cortez has continued to fight back against Trump’s tirade against her. On Sunday, she clapped back again on Twitter, saying she and her fellow congresswomen “fight to guarantee basic human rights.”
