A California police officer attached to the extremist group Proud Boys has been fired, officials announced Friday.
Rick Fitzgerald, then an officer at the Fresno police station, allegedly took part in a counter-demonstration by Proud Boys on March 14 outside a theater sold to a church that protesters said was hostile to the LGBTQ community and marital equality.
Fitzgerald was placed on leave the next day, and his dismissal was announced Friday by Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer and Police Chief Paco Balderrama, following an investigation.
“It is clear to me that there have been serious violations of the department’s policies,” Dyer said in a statement. “I am glad that Officer Fitzgerald will no longer serve as a police officer at the city of Fresno.”
Balderrama, referring to the Southern Poverty Law Center, called the Proud Boys a ‘hate group’ and said in a statement: ‘I stand by and confirm my previous comments as I am not approving with any police officer who hate groups do not join. ‘
Nothing Fitzgerald, nor the Fresno Police Officers Association, could be immediately reached for comment.
The day after the protest, the police union called the allegation of Fitzgerald’s Proud Boys participation as very disturbing and said it supported an investigation by the police department.
At least 19 employees of the Proud Boys, which was founded in 2016 by co-founder of the vice publication Gavin McInnes as a group for ‘western chauvinists’, have been charged in connection with the riot on Capitol on 6 January.
