A 19-year veteran of the Norfolk Police Department in Virginia who was fired after donating to the Kyle Rittenhouse defense fund wants his job back.
According to Jordon Dixon-Hamilton of Breitbart, Lieutenant William Kelly, who was less than a year away from hitting 20 years with the department, was booted by the force after anonymously donating $25 to the Rittenhouse legal defense fund in April. His donation via Give Send Go and his identity were discovered by hackers, and soon published by the U.K.'s The Guardian.
Kelly sent his donation anonymously with a note that read, ‘God Bless. Thank you for your courage. Keep your head up. You’ve done nothing wrong. Every rank-and-file police officer supports you.’
And Kelly says his attempt to donate anonymously was driven by an interest in not implicating his government-run department. It was to be a personal donation, kept private.
’I didn’t want my city or police department to be associated with it, so I chose to donate anonymously,’ Kelly said.
But, after the Guardian ran its April 16 story exposing Kelly’s name and those of other officers who had donated, the city and Norfolk Police received harsh opprobrium from leftists around the nation.
Ya know, those leftists who always talk about prosecutorial reform and fighting government injustice…
Related: Leftist Tears Marathon: Far-Left Twitter Melts Down After Rittenhouse NOT GUILTY Verdict | MRCTV
One wonders if they will call for Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate the prosecutors behind the witch trial of Kyle Rittenhouse…
And one wonders if the Norfolk Police will offer Lt. Kelly the opportunity to return to work, especially since he was ten months away from his “pension vesting” when the department gave him the boot.
And one wonders if they will address the seeming “do as I say, not as I do” atmosphere circling in the department:
Furthermore, Kelly was punished for his donation despite Norfolk police chief Larry Boone keeping his job after attending a Black Lives Matter protest fully uniformed and on duty last May.
Yep. While on duty.
Kelly pointed out Norfolk Police Department’s inconsistency in handling these two situations.
‘Yet I cannot, off-duty, on my own time make a donation and some comments that are well within the realm of public, acceptable discourse?’ he questioned. ‘If I had a different opinion and I donated to a fund for the victims and made comments about how Mr. Rittenhouse was a murderer, nobody would have cared or tried to get me fired.’
Kelly hopes to resolve the issue prior to a scheduled January hearing.
Regardless of the fact that Rittenhouse was acquitted, Kelly has a right to donate to someone’s legal defense. Of course, taxpayers will be forced to pay for the police department regardless of the outcome of his problem, so, perhaps, as folks consider the merits of true freedom to donate where one wants, they might think about freeing citizens to pay for what they want, and not enslave them, whatever their political views, to support a system they might find offensive to their ethics.
The Kelly case is ongoing and will see a decision, one way or the other.
Taxpayers will keep paying, no matter what.