Cop on Facebook: AOC 'Needs a Round'

The Louisiana officer posted the message Thursday
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 21, 2019 4:15 PM CDT
Cop on Facebook: OAC 'Needs a Round'
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, a target of racist rhetoric from President Donald Trump, responds to reporters as she arrives for votes in the House, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, July 18, 2019.   (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

A Louisiana police officer posted a Facebook message Thursday saying Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a "vile Idiot" who "needs a round, and I don't mean the kind she used to serve." The post refers to AOC's time as a bartender and appears to suggest that someone shoot the freshman lawmaker, NOLA reports. The author, Gretna Police Officer Charlie Rispoli, posted it on his personal Facebook page along with a debunked Taters Gonna Tate article that inaccurately quotes AOC as saying, "We pay soldiers too much." (Snopes.com calls the story "false.") Now the post and Rispoli's Facebook page have been taken down, and Rispoli's boss, Chief Arthur Lawson, has taken interest.

"I will tell you this: This will not go unchecked," says Lawson. "I’m not going to take this lightly and this will be dealt with on our end." Rafael Goyeneche, who heads the watchdog Metropolitan Crime Commission, also seems unamused: "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," he says. The incident follows similar scandals involving inflammatory posts by Border Patrol agents and thousands of current and former police officers, as well as racist tweets by President Trump. Lawson says any disciplining of Rispoli will be kept within the department. (See what could happen to 13 Philadelphia police officers.)

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