Christopher Fitzgerald, who was acquitted of brandishing a gun at detectives in 2014, is now suing the county for false arrest. In an earlier suit which was dismissed, he also accused the detectives of racial profiling. Readers may remember that the victim/defendant is the son of the former police chief in Allentown. The chief was hired after a nationwide search. The chief's son was then hired by Lehigh County Prison as a guard. He slammed on his brakes on 7th Street with a car behind him, and then displayed a gun when the car behind him came alongside. The car happen to be occupied by detectives, and Fritzgerald was arrested by Whitehall Police in the parking lot of the Lehigh Valley Mall.
In a well covered trial, young Fitzgerald was acquitted of charges stemming from the incident. He was defended by high power Philadelphia lawyer Jack McMahon, who would later defend Pawlowski, who had hired Fitzgerald's dad as police chief.
The Fitzgerald had no problem with racial profiling when the father was hired as police chief. They had no problem with profiling when junior was given a job at the prison. That only happened when the Hispanic detective in the car behind him got annoyed at him waving a Glock handgun.
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DeleteOh boy you have two likes!!! I guess his father being hired as the police chief, was due to his color. Hmmm, I wonder if the racial profiling cops hired his father? Michael once again you are showing your racist card. No surprise here. Failing author that must push racial news.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a believer in coincidence, so I don't think county detectives being behind the Police Chief's son was a random occurrence.
ReplyDeleteThe animosity between the District Attorney and the Chief of Police was well known, and was likely the reason for the two parties to come into contact. Still, it had NOTHING to do with race and everything to do with a turf war over who got the money from drug forfeitures.
That said, I think that claim was dismissed with the original suit, and the chief's son played a large role in the situation escalating.
The current claim of racial profiling seems like a last gasp effort to collect on something. The case should be dismissed.
Personally, I'd like to see county attorneys sue to recover their costs of defending a frivolous suit.
Did this man pull his gun on the car behind him? From what I've read in the media, yes.
ReplyDeleteDid the officers then try to disarm him? Again, yes.
Why will the taxpayers have to pay for this crime of pulling a gun on ANYONE like this?
No racial profiling needed when talking about the crime of pulling a gun like this. Yes?