There was a police shooting this past weekend in Fort Worth, Texas. A woman was shot in her own home, after allegedly pointing a gun toward her bedroom window, by a police officer outside in her yard. Allentown and Fort Worth have a former police chief in common.
Former Allentown police chief Joel Fitzgerald's lawyer is claiming that if he hadn't been fired from his position in Fort Worth last May, the black woman shot early Saturday morning would probably still be alive. While Fitzgerald is fighting to get his Texas job back, he omits the fact that if things had gone his way, he would have gotten the top police job in Baltimore, and would not have been in Fort Worth anyway.
Fitzgerald was hired by former mayor Pawlowski, and resigned to take the Fort Worth job. Fitzgerald's son was given a job at Lehigh County prison, and was subsequently arrested for pointing a gun at county detectives. Although acquitted with the help of high power Philly lawyer Jack McMahon, his subsequent suit for racial profiling against the county was dismissed. McMahon would later become a daily figure in Allentown, unsuccessfully defending Pawlowski against corruption charges.
I don't know if Fitzgerald's guidance would have prevented the shooting last weekend, but he certainly has expertise when to comes to hiring lawyers.
photo of former mayor Pawlowski swearing in former police chief Fitzgerald/The Morning Call
Thank You Michael, I checked the Fort Worth media regarding the chief's comments.Now I understand why he was let go.
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