US police officer sacked for Facebook post suggesting Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez should be shot

Alexandria-Ocasio Cortez blamed Donald Trump's tirade against her and three colleagues for creating an atmosphere normalising violent language
AFP/Getty Images
Eleanor Rose23 July 2019

A US police officer has been sacked after he appeared to suggest on his Facebook page that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez should be shot.

"This vile idiot needs a round and I don't mean the kind she used to serve," Charlie Rispoli of the Gretna Police Department, Louisiana, wrote in a Facebook post screenshotted by Nola.com, which covers New Orleans.

It refers to the congresswoman's one-time student job in a bar in New York City and was posted last Thursday, but has now been deleted.

The comments were shared to Mr Rispoli's personal account alongside a fake news story from the website Taters Gonna Tate, which falsely quoted AOC saying "we pay soldiers too much".

Gretna's police chief, Arthur Lawson, told reporters on Monday that both Mr Rispoli and another officer who liked the post have been fired for violating the force's social media policy.

The post suggested Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez should be shot
AP

"These officers have certainly acted in a manner which was unprofessional, alluding to a violent act to be conducted against a sitting US (congresswoman), a member of our government," he said at a press conference.

The post was "an embarrassment to our department", he added.

Mr Rispoli did not respond when approached for comment by local reporters.

Ms Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Twitter on Monday that Donald Trump was to blame for creating an atmosphere in which such comments could be made.

"This is Trump’s goal when he uses targeted language & threatens elected officials who don’t agree w/ his political agenda," she said.

"The President is sowing violence. He’s creating an environment where people can get hurt & he claims plausible deniability."

Mr Trump drew fire last week when he told four high-profile Democratic congresswomen including AOC to “go back where they came” in a Twitter tirade.

Trump's language was condemned as racist by a majority in the House of Representatives
AP

Mr Trump told the “progressives” to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came” – despite the fact the group, known as "the squad", are American citizens.

The four includes Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib. Only Ms Omar, from Somalia, was born abroad.

The US House of Representatives voted last week by 240 to 187 to condemn Trump's "go home" comments as racist.

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