NYPD Officer Sues Over Lost-Pay Punishment for Wearing Pro-Trump Patch, Leaves Judge 'Speechless'

NYPD officer sues to recover lost wages for wearing pro-Trump patch. (Credit: Fox News)

In this episode of The Double Standards of Liberal Hypocrisy…

A New York Police Department sergeant was suspended for 10 days in February 2021 without pay and also lost 30 days of vacation pay for wearing a pro-Trump patch while on duty while working at a Black Lives Matter protest. A video of the “incident” quickly circulated on social media, prompting the department to swiftly bring the hammer down on the “offending” officer, which is where our story begins.

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The “offending” patch read: “Trump Make Enforcement Great Again.” In response to the incident, former Police Commissioner Dermot Shea tweeted:

Members of the NYPD must remain apolitical- It’s essential to public trust & officers’ ability to perform their jobs.

Really? We’ll see about that, a bit later.

NYPD Sgt. Dana Martillo and attorney Joseph W. Murray joined “Fox & Friends First” on Thursday to discuss the lawsuit she’s since filed against the department in response to the punishment, which in part claims the NYPD’s actions against her constitute a double standard, vs. the department’s “official” stance of remaining “apolitical.” Martillo told Fox:

It was funny, because the judge had asked me if he thought — or if I thought, rather — my actions were appropriate. I looked at him and I said, ‘I don’t think they were inappropriate.’ He asked me to elaborate, and I explained if it was an American flag, a Dominican flag, or an LGBT patch, no one would have cared or said anything… I believe it left him speechless.

Can any rational, honest person in America disagree with Martillo? Hell no; again, not if they’re honest.

Moreover, I have zero doubt that the officer could’ve taken her examples a step or two further. Would she have faced the same punishment if she wore a Gay Pride or BLM patch? Or better yet, an “Obama Make Enforcement Better” patch while Chicago Jesus Obama was president? You make the call.

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As reported by the New York Post, Martillo, who has been on the force since 2008, filed the suit earlier this week in which she asked the court to overturn her punishment, claiming she didn’t get a fair internal trial, new court papers show. The patch displayed the Marvel Comics character “The Punisher” symbol, with former President Donald Trump’s signature hairstyle. She also wore a second patch of the Punisher skull, which is popular with a far-right group called the Three Percenters.

Here’s more, via the Post:

At an administrative trial, Martillo was found guilty of all four charges she faced, including wearing unauthorized patches and expressing personal political beliefs on duty.

But Martillo accused the investigation against her of being “very biased and politically motivated” and claimed the charges and final determination at the trial were “completely bogus and premised upon false facts,” according to her Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit filed Tuesday.

The suit states Martillo never expected “the level of dishonesty, political bias, and bad faith that would so infect this entire administrative disciplinary process, due to the total control that the mayor as chief executive has over the New York City Police Department and the ‘Kangaroo court’ in which [she] was forced to mount her defense to these trumped-up charges (pardon the pun).”

Reasons listed in the filing for why the trial was unfair include that the judge who oversaw it was biased; the only witness against her allegedly lied; and she was unfairly barred from presenting evidence from a polygraph expert who would have testified about the truth of her testimony.

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Thing is, Martillo’s punishment didn’t stop with a suspension and fine. Neither did the NYPD’s hypocrisy.

The officer was placed on performance monitoring in November as a result of the incident, and her attorney told Fox that although the department reiterated its expectation for officers to remain apolitical, high-ranking NYPD officials haven’t always complied with the policy.

The former chief of the department, Terence Monahan, got down on his knees holding hands with other protesters at a Black Lives Matter protest, and that was OK. That was acceptable. There were other chiefs also, and high ranking officials, who — really I think this came from [former] Mayor de Blasio — to bow down and kneel down on the floor at the foot of these protests. That’s OK, but God forbid somebody wear something that’s even related to Donald Trump, and they crucify you.

Bingo.

While I’m in general agreement that law enforcement departments and other agencies — federal, state, and local — should separate their politics from their jobs, Murray was exactly right: Exhibit support for Black Lives Matter or Gay Pride while on duty? No problem. Or, that Obama guy? Be my guest.

But show support for “the Devil’s spawn,” Donald Trump? There’s going to be hell to pay.

The Bottom Line

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This isn’t about Trump; it’s about the blatant hypocrisy and double-standard bias, coupled with the fear of repercussions for offending the left.

This is still America; knock off the double-standard nonsense.

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