Chris Flanigan: Brooklyn teacher FIRED over anti-cop post on Jason Rivera's funeral
A Brooklyn public school teacher was fired from his job for an anti-cop Instagram post about the funeral of slain NYPD cop Jason Rivera. In a statement, Coney Island Prep conformed that Christopher Flanigan, who encouraged violence against cops who were mourning Rivera's death, is no longer working for the school. Chris Flanigan's statement also drew outrage from members of New York’s Finest.
“We do not condone or promote violence of any sort. As of this afternoon, Mr. Flanigan is no longer employed at Coney Island Prep,” Coney Island Prep CEO Leslie-Bernard Joseph said in a statement. “The teachers and staff of Coney Island Prep are public servants; and like all public servants we hold ourselves to a much higher standard,” Joseph added. “We work hard to serve the young people in our community, and we know our police officers do as well, taking innumerable risks, to keep our city safe.”
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Flanigan told New York Post that he began receiving death threats ever since he made the post, which is now deleted. The Instagram story showed an overhead shot of officers flooding Fifth Avenue for Rivera’s funeral, and was captioned, “5/30/20: NYPD SUV drives into a crowd of protestors. Ideal conditions for reciprocity.”
Flanigan claimed that his message had been 'misconstructed' and that he had only commented on the “vulnerability” of the crowd of cops. “I respect the NYPD. I do not condone violence,” he said. “A 22-year-old police officer murdered in the line of duty is reprehensible. I’m devastated by that.”
In a similar incident, a New York City actress was fired by her theater company for criticizing street closures for murdered NYPD cop Jason Rivera's funeral in an online rant that she deleted soon after it went viral. “We do not need to shut down most of Lower Manhattan because one cop died for probably doing his job incorrectly. They kill people who are under 22 every single day for no good reason and we don’t shut down the city for them,” Jacqueline Guzman said in the clip which appeared on TikTok under the handle @vinylboobs.
On Friday, January 28, Guzman filmed herself walking down an empty barricaded street. At one point, she panned the camera to show the viewers the closed street. “Like this is f***ing ridiculous. This is f***ing ridiculous. What if somebody is having a heart attack in this area. Nobody can get to them because it’s all blocked off for one f***ing cop,” she said.
NYPD cop Jason Rivera lost his life after he was shot by a domestic violence suspect in Harlem, Manhattan. Jason Rivera, 22, and fellow NYPD officer Wilbert Mora, 27, had attended a domestic call on Friday, January 21. Upon reaching the scene, Rivera was fatally shot in the hallway by a 47-year-old suspect, who was supposedly arguing with his mother. He fell onto his back and succumbed to his injuries. His partner Wilbert Mora, who was also injured in the attack, later succumbed to his injuries.