2 Pittsburgh motorcycle officers removed from unit after Trump rally
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The Pittsburgh Fraternal Order of Police is fiercely defending two of its own after the motorcycle supervisors who were part of former President Donald Trump's motorcade in Butler County on Saturday were removed from the unit.
"There's a dispute whether they had authorization to be there or if they decided on their own they were going to go," said Beth Pittinger, the executive director of the Pittsburgh Citizen Police Review Board. "We don't know how they got there."
The motorcycle supervisors have been transferred out of the cycle unit as that's being investigated.
Ten motorcycle officers were part of the former president's motorcade Saturday, the day would-be assassin Thomas Crooks fired from a building outside the security perimeter, killing Corey Comperatore, wounding the former president, others in the crowd and law enforcement. Four of them, including the two who have been transferred, were injured.
Robert Swartzwelder, the president of the Pittsburgh Fraternal Order of Police said in a statement: "In a time when we should be honoring the heroics of these officers, we've created some petty administrative investigation in the midst of a serious political race."
"They may have had permission to be there that we don't know," Pittinger told KDKA-TV's Mamie Bah. "That has to be established and the public has the right to know that when we are faced with a severe shortage of officers."
In response, the FOP has filed two grievances on behalf of the supervisors. One has been on the force for more than 30 years, the other nearly 20.
A spokesperson for Pittsburgh police said, "The transfers were unrelated to the rally. That was an administrative decision."