Mayor in PhotoLancaster’s police chief was forced to retire because his wife posted positive comments about President Trump on Facebook, according to the past president of the local Fraternal Order of Police.Mayor Danene Sorace announced Jarrad Berkihiser’s retirement on Friday, Oct. 2, during a three-and-a-half-minute news conference at which she did not answer questions and which Berkihiser did not attend.
It was retire or be fired, John Fiorill, the FOP’s immediate past president said Friday.
Fiorill said his account of Berkihiser’s retirement is based on a call Berkihiser made to the FOP lodge seeking labor advice after Sorace demanded his resignation. Since Berkihiser had not reached an agreement with the city at the time of that call, Fiorill said he believes he can share the information with the media.
"The irony of this whole thing is, he didn’t make that statement," Fiorill said. "He knows better than to get involved in politics. It was his wife. Where does the mayor have the audacity to request his resignation based on what his wife said? He had nothing to do with it."
In the since-deleted Sept. 27 Facebook posts, Kristy Berkhiser responded to comments made by a friend who had volunteered at the Trump campaign rally at Harrisburg International Airport the day before.
The friend said Trump "spoke so much of law enforcement officers and his respect and thankfulness for them!"
Berkihiser’s wife responded: "why im voting for him again. Same reason as last time... you don’t see him meeting w Jacob Blake’s family or speaking to him by phone..."
Blake is the Black man who was shot in the back in August by Kenosha, Wisconsin police. Democratic presidential candidate Joe
Foreign Policy Whiz KidBiden
...Candidate for president in 2020. We hold these truths to be self-evident. All men and women created ... by the — you know — you know, the thing...
met with Blake’s family.