search
Sign In Subscribe
Anastasia Boushee

Commissioner Faces Protests After FDNY Vowed To ‘Hunt Down’ Hecklers

After New York firefighters dared to boo state Attorney General Letitia James (D), the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) vowed to “hunt down” the hecklers for exercising their First Amendment rights — prompting protesters to let FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh know how they feel about her leadership.

While marching in New York City’s St. Patrick’s Day parade on Saturday with several other officials, Kavanagh was greeted with jeers and condemnation from the crowd.

One protester held up a sign with Kavanagh’s face on a donkey’s body, the caption reading: “Pin the tail on the jack—ss.”

The protester shouted, “You suck,” as Kavanagh marched past Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue.

“Firefighters are the hunters,” he screamed, referencing the FDNY’s declaration that they would “hunt down” firefighters who booed James.

Meanwhile, other protesters cheered on behalf of former president and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump — who is being politically persecuted by the same woman that the firefighters booed, Letitia James.

As former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy noted in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, the New York attorney general should face repercussions for her targeting of firefighters and Trump, as well as her attacks on the meat industry.

“Letitia James should be disbarred. She prosecutes Trump baselessly. She goes after meat producers in the name of fighting climate change. Now the FDNY firefighters who dared to boo her & exercise their First Amendment rights are being punished. This is un-American,” he wrote.

Ramaswamy’s post was in response to the news that firefighters were “being asked to turn themselves in or risk being hunted down” after they dared to boo James.

“FDNY firefighters who booed NY AG Letitia James will be punished and face reeducation. FDNY firefighters are now being asked to turn themselves in or risk being hunted down. Memos and emails from the Uniformed Fire Officers Association (UFOA) & Uniformed Firefighters Association are circulating,” the original post read.

The post from End Wokeness included a video of the firefighters booing James and cheering Trump’s name during a promotion ceremony, as well as images of the memos.

After the initial incident, FDNY Chief of Department John Hodgens released a statement declaring that the FDNY’s Bureau of Investigation and Trials “is investigating this, so they will figure out who the members are” who booed James.

“I recommend they come forward. I have been told by the Commissioner it will be better for them if they come forward, and we don’t have to hunt them down,” he added.

Hodgens immediately faced criticism for the First Amendment violation, prompting him to walk back his comments and claim that using “hunt” was “a poor choice of words.”

“It was not meant to be taken literally and was never uttered by anyone on the executive staff. Specifically, there was not, and is not, an investigation into members booing,” he continued, claiming that the FDNY was only planning to investigate “allegations of other violations of department regulations,” not the booing. The department has yet to explain what these supposed violations were.

Kavanagh specifically was the target of protests during Saturday’s parade after she apologized to the institution where the booing took place, the Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn — prompting anger from firefighters, according to the New York Post.

The outlet quoted an unidentified Queens firefighter as saying, “I would say this is a waste of [Kavanagh’s] time but I don’t know what else she does. The commissioner made this political by inviting a politician to speak.”

“I wasn’t there but if I was I would have yelled out Trump’s name because that is my constitutional freedom of speech. I don’t need the commissioner to apologize for my American rights,” an unidentified Brooklyn firefighter also told the outlet.

 

Please leave your comment below!

*