Two Louisiana police officers were fired Monday after demeaning and threatening Facebook posts directed towards Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez surfaced over the weekend.
New Orleans police officer Charles Rispoli called Ocasio-Cortez a “vile idiot,” and saying that she “needs a round … and I don’t mean the kind she used to serve,” referring to the freshman congresswoman’s previous job as a bartender. Nola.com first reported the story and obtained a screenshot of the Facebook posts. (RELATED: Ocasio-Cortez Attacks Republicans Over Swearing-In Stunt)
Ripsoli was fired for the comments, as was officer Angelo Varisco who liked the post, Gretna Police Chief Arthur Lawson announced Monday.
Chief Arthur Lawson of Gretna, La., says Officer Rispoli has been fired today for his post about @AOC “alluding to a violent act to be conducted against a sitting congressperson.” Says another officer who “liked” post also fired. @WWLTV pic.twitter.com/J9wXWzWVvg
— David Hammer (@davidhammerWWL) July 22, 2019
Before being terminated, Rispoli had been an officer for 14 years, according to Nola.com. Lawson initially suspended the two officers indefinitely without pay, saying that the threats were not something his department “took lightly.”
“I’m not going to take this lightly and this will be dealt with on our end,” Lawson said at the time. “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.”
Earlier this year, a Time Magazine profile of Ocasio-Cortez reported that the 29-year-old congresswoman and her staff has faced death threats, and had to receive risk assessment training from Capitol police.