Remember Chrissie Brodigan, the woman who was allegedly assaulted by a NYPD officer who said, "If you're going to act like a woman I'm going to treat you like a woman"? Well, it looks like allegations of anti-Semitic comments during the incident has resulted in her getting fired.
The New York Post "revealed" a witness (very shortly after Gothamist broke the story) who claims she saw Brodigan yell at Officer Witriol, the city's first Hasidic officer, "You f---ing Jew, you're not even human. Jewish people think they own everything." But Brodigan claims (as do other witnesses) that she said nothing of the sort, yet was fired from her job at Plum TV shortly thereafter. Brodigan says:
I was terminated for "equivocating" in the press. My boss [Chris Glowacki] is threatening to not offer an agreeable severance package, including health insurance, which is crucial because i have cystic fibrosis and he is aware. He's angry that this is out in the press. I think he made a judgment based on perceived bigotry.
While obviously we can't know for sure who said what, Brodigan responded with a compelling letter to Gothamist about the allegations and her termination:
There were witnesses at the scene and these witnesses did not hear me make any anti-Semitic remarks and specifically did not recall the existence of the Post's alleged witness. I do not believe that this witness was at the scene nor did any witness hear me make antisemitic remarks.The truth is that smearing the victim is a classic police technique to cover up abuse and protect the arresting officer. I am not a bigot, and accusations of bigotry are so absurd that I did not think it even necessary to respond to them.
...These anti-Semitic comments printed by the New York Post never crossed my lips on the day I was wrongfully arrested and physically abused. And, to be even more succinct, those words and statements have NEVER crossed my lips on any other day in my life. EVER.
I believe that ultimately the evidence will come out that the police were involved in the Post's smear job of me, which was an effort to cover up police misconduct.
Brodigan also discloses her social justice-oriented academic background and that she has "devoted [her] adult life to studying and supporting the civil rights of minorities."
If Brodigan is right (and I'd personally believe her pug over the Post), the level of bullshit going on here is completely obscene. A woman who is slandered and subsequently fired (not to mention without the decency of health insurance extension, which she obviously needs) for being assaulted is pretty unreal.
Although I'm not holding my breath, I hope the truth is revealed behind this story; injustice has been committed here, one way or another.
Photo by Jason Wagner, via Gothamist.
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Now my question is what HE suffered for the KNOWN SEXIST comments he made. There is absolutely no question of what he said, and what did he suffer? If he didn't get fired then it seems to me that there are people placing different levels of importance on different groups.
he IS a cop, after all. cops are always given more favors/privileges than civilians.
Right. And even she did make anti-Semitic remarks -- which would be despicable -- what he did still sucks. Two wrongs don't make a right, as they tell us in kindergarten...
it's so sad she lost her job over this, when there's not even any solid evidence of what happened. this poor woman!
this is bullshit. and I agree with you, I'm more inclined to believe her over the Post, a known trashy tabloid that loves to sensationalize everything.
Working under the assumption that she did not slur the Hasidic officer, this is horribly injust. I'm glad that she's naming names and saying who is depriving her of what and for what reason.
On the upside, it seems like she knows how to advocate for herself. Hopefully she'll navigate her way out of this and come out on top.
This is pretty sad and if she has an impartial witness I'm going with her and if he pulled that out his ass he really needs to be fired and sued. Hopefully it works out and yes the Post is the bottom of all things journalistic. And as Vanessa said defiling the victim is cop 101 when you get in trouble.
This is terrible. What is the best thing for people to do in support? Write to Plum TV? Petition to the NYPD? Anything?
I'm so sick of the NYPD's BULLSHIT. They rape, steal, and kill and get away with all of it. That pathetic citizen's council they have is such a set up.
We need action now!
Anyone interested in organizing?
This is the same NYPD that can shoot a black man dozens of times with impunity. Does anyone really think an officer will be reprimanded for sexist language?
Is there any way she can fight against this for being fired for wrongful reasons? Can't she take them to court, or something? The police department even?
i think it'd be pretty hard for her to prove she was discriminated against by being fired. employers are allowed to fire people for reasons that don't fall under discrimination laws (age, sex, race, gender, abilities, etc) ending up in the press, even if it doesn't mean it's your fault, can be a liability for some offices and they probably are using that angle to terminate her employment.
A trashy tabloid testifying against her is the same kind of source you get generalising the whole NYPD force that you are criticising as a whole right now- i'm sure most of the police officers aren't "rapists"
so really you're as bad as anyone believing she did it- if of course she is innocent- it's her word versus the media's, in which case you shouldn't be sucked in unless of course there is some factual evidence
being a sexist isn't right but just as bad is being a racist based on being discriminated against- i believe there was an Austrian fellow with stylish facial hair at the time and his followers that took things too far a few decades ago, can't remember the name though.
I think it's important to note that taking away the health insurance of someone with cystic fibrosis is not too far off murder. I'm not sure how familiar most people are with that disease, but fifty years ago, people with CF rarely lived past early childhood; even now, their life expectancy is in the high thirties. People with CF require continuing treatment. So there is a significant possibility that this woman will actually die because of being fired without health insurance.