A Norfolk, VA, officer who was fired for anonymously donating $25 to a Kyle Rittenhouse defense fund after being outed by hackers and the media is now demanding his job back.
Speaking to DailyMail.com on Friday, as the Rittenhouse verdict came in on Friday, Norfolk Police Lieutenant William "Bill" Kelly explained why he thought Rittenhouse deserved his help back then, and why he stands by the decision now.
Rittenhouse was found not guilty on all counts on Friday after a two week trial.
Seven months ago, long before the trial had even started, 42-year-old Kelly was fired for donating anonymously to the teenager's then-growing defense fund.
Kelly, a 19-year veteran and father-of-three who had moved into the internal affairs division at the time, made a $25 donation to a Give Send Go online campaign for Rittenhouse's legal team after watching social media videos and journalists' footage from the August 2020 Kenosha riots.
State Senator Bryce Reeves (R), of District 17, has called for the reinstatement of Lt. Kelly, WTKR reports.
The Senator claims that Chief Boone played into a double standard when he marched along with a Black Lives Matter protest in uniform. The department policy states that no officer should have on uniforms at political events.
The letter states Lt. Kelly was recently featured in an article stating he wants his job back. The Senator asks Chief Larry Boone to take it into serious consideration. The Senator is a former police officer and claims that firing Lt. Kelly sets a bad precedent on all Virginia officers.
The Give Send Go donation page for Lieutenant William Kelly was set up on November 20 by political commentator Candace Owens and has so far raised over $230,000 at time of writing, Newsweek reports.
