Philadelphia police are investigating one of their own detectives and what role the officer may have played in the deadly riots last week at the U.S. Capitol, officials said Sunday.
The department is aware of ‘social media reports claiming that a PPD detective may have attended’ on Wednesday’s protest, which turned violent when crowds stormed the Capitol, Sgt. Eric Gripp said in a statement.
The riot by the outgoing president, Donald Trump, lies in the fact that fraud cost him the election of elected president Joe Biden, which resulted in the deaths of at least five people.
“An IAB investigation has been opened to determine whether PPD policies were violated by the detective, and whether they participated in illegal activities while attending,” Gripp said.
“The detective’s order has been changed pending the outcome of the investigation.”
Representatives from the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police Lodge # 5 said the detective went to Washington, DC on her own time and did not commit any criminal acts.
“Our detective traveled to Washington, DC on her day off and exercised her first amendment rights to attend an event,” union president John McNesby said in a statement.
“We believe she did nothing wrong and we are awaiting the outcome of a full internal investigation. We strongly condemn the violence and loss of life at the Capitol and hope that those responsible will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. . “
Both the union and the police have rejected the name detective who is now being investigated.
Mayor Jim Kenney is asking for the public’s help in identifying any employee in the city who may have taken part in the riot by calling Philadelphia’s Inspector General’s office or sending an email.
“To be clear, we do not currently have evidence that any city employee violated the law last Wednesday when the Capitol was violated,” Kenney said in a statement Monday.
“And I can not stress enough that investigations that result do not lose sight of the right to be involved in protecting the first amendment.”
Police in Rocky Mount, Virginia, placed two officers on administrative leave over the weekend for their alleged involvement in the riots.
And Seattle police said at least two of their officials attended the Washington rally last week.
A West Virginia lawmaker who recorded a video and then removed it from him storming the U.S. Capitol has also been charged under criminal charges in connection with the deadly protest. Derrick Evans, a Republican state attorney, is accused of knowingly entering a restricted area.
Evans says he did not break any laws, but the freshman lawmaker resigned over the weekend, saying in a statement: “I hope this action I take today can remove any cloud of distraction from the legislature, so that my colleagues are seriously concerned about the work can come. to build a better future for our state. ‘
Evans won his seat with 37.3 percent of the vote in November and above his closest rival, Democrat Ric Griffith, who had 25 percent.
