Norfolk Virginia Police Lieutenant Who Donated to Kyle Rittenhouse Seeking Due Process, Fired Much Quicker than Other Officers Facing Controversial Reviews

Former Norfolk Virginia Police Lt. William Kelly was fired by the City of Norfolk in April for making a private donation to a fund for Kyle Rittenhouse. Kelly had been on the police force for 19 years and was 10 months short of receiving his retirement savings penalty-free.

On May 7th Kelly’s Lawyers filed a grievance with the city. According to Fox News, “The grievance argues that his dismissal violated due process and Virginia code that does not allow immediate dismissal. It also violates the “Virginia Law Enforcement Officers Procedural Guarantee Act,” which requires certain steps, including the ability to respond to formally alleged charges, to be provided to an officer before he or she is fired. 

The termination was based on political affiliation, race and was “unjustified, excessive, arbitrary and capricious,” the document further states.

The grievance also features a picture of Chief Boone holding a “Black Lives Matter” poster during a protest in the city.”

Kelly’s $25 donation was made public when GiveSendGo was hacked. The Guardian reported on the breach and listed Kelly as one of the donors in their article, citing that he used his city email to make the ‘anonymous’ donation. They also reported his comment made with the donation. “God bless. Thank you for your courage. Keep your head up. You’ve done nothing wrong. Every rank and file police officer supports you. Don’t be discouraged by actions of the political class of law enforcement leadership.”

According to the Guardian, Kelly’s position at the time of his donation was executive officer of internal affairs. So it seems Kelly should have some idea as to how the investigation into his donation would have taken place.

“Being in internal affairs for so long as a sergeant and then again coming back as a lieutenant, I knew that Internal Affairs investigations take months and months and months, sometimes over a year,” he said. “I know that it takes months and months to go through the administrative process of scrutiny by different departments.”

He further described it as a “long, drawn-out process.” Kelly continued, “So [I] certainly was not expecting to be fired. Certainly, was not expecting to be fired within two working days of discovering the donation.”

Kelly’s wife is currently receiving treatment for cancer. A campaign to raise funds for the fired officer can be found here. Currently, it has raised over $80,000.

The grievance highlights the hypocrisy of his firing over an anonymous donation, while the Norfolk Police chief is allowed to protest with Black Lives Matter in full uniform.

Stay tuned to Media Right News as we will try to stay abreast to the developments with this story.