The officer, Charlie Rispoli, a 14-year veteran of the Police Department in Gretna, referred to Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., in a post Thursday as “this vile idiot.”
The post continued, saying she “needs a round — and I don’t mean the kind she used to serve,” a reference to her past work as a bartender, according to a screenshot of his comment obtained by nola.com, which covers New Orleans.
He was responding to a post by the satirical website tatersgonnatate.com with the headline “Ocasio-Cortez on the Budget: ‘We Pay Soldiers Too Much.’”
Wayne Rau, a city councilman and the mayor pro tem of Gretna, a city of about 18,000 people across the Mississippi River from New Orleans, condemned Rispoli’s post in an interview Sunday.
“I’m pretty appalled by it,” Rau said. “I don’t think this is a representation of the Police Department of the city of Gretna.”
Asked whether Rispoli’s Facebook post was a threat, he said, “I’m not sure how to take that post.” He said it should be up to the city’s police chief, Arthur Lawson, to decide on any disciplinary or criminal action.
Three of the four other members on the Gretna City Council were not immediately available for comment Sunday. The fourth, Jackie Berthelot, directed questions to the Police Department.
Efforts Sunday to reach Rispoli, who appeared to have deactivated his Facebook account, were unsuccessful. Corbin Trent, a spokesman for Ocasio-Cortez, declined to comment. Lawson, who is an elected official, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday.
The chief told nola.com that he was disturbed by the post.
“I will tell you this: This will not go unchecked,” he said. “I’m not going to take this lightly and this will be dealt with on our end. It’s not something we want someone that’s affiliated with our department to make these types of statements. That’s not going to happen.”
Mayor Belinda Constant said Sunday that she had been out of the state and was not immediately prepared to comment. “I will be looking into the situation,” Constant, a Democrat, said.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.