DC cop says threat to assassinate Michelle Obama was “just a joke”

A DC police officer, who allegedly made a threat, in front of five other officers, to shoot First Lady Michelle Obama – and who allegedly showed another officer a photo on his phone of the gun he was going to use – now says it was just a joke.Interestingly, another police officer who was present says it sounded to her like a threat.  And that’s kind of her expertise, judging threats.
But it gets better.  The officer who allegedly made the threat works motorcycle escorts for the President, Vice President, and other dignitaries.
He’s now undergoing a disciplinary proceeding after the Secret Service determined no charges would be filed.
Judging by my experience with the Metropolitan Police Department, good luck punishing this guy.  There are a lot of great cops in the MPD, and a lot of horrifically lazy slackers.  The former don’t get much praise, and the latter rarely get punished, let alone booted.

 

The same DC cop also wrote on his Facebook page in 2009 that he “felt like taking a rifle to a tall building,” because the DC city council cut pension benefits.  His attorney said, in his defense, that the Facebook post was old.  Uh huh.  Four years ago.  It was a youthful discretion.
The Washington Post walks us through more details:

Testimony indicated that the conversation turned to heavy traffic during a recent escort for Michelle Obama and then about her threat level. An officer at the table explained that “a lot of people want to kill her.”
Clark, a 24-year veteran still with the special operations division, said she expressed surprise at that statement, and Picciano said, “Yeah, because I want to kill her.” Clark said she twice asked if he meant it, and that he said yes, and then showed her the picture of the gun on his phone.
Pressler and another officer gave a different account, saying that Clark asked who would kill the first lady. Picciano answered, “I guess I would.” At that moment, Picciano was talking with a colleague about a birthday gift of a .40-caliber handgun, and he was calling up a picture of it on his smartphone. The other officer said the picture came up just as Picciano made the comment about Obama and was handing the phone across the table to the other officer, Pressler said.

I guess I would?  Who talks like this?  Especially a cop? And especially someone who’s on the detail to protect the President?  You joke about assassinating his wife?  Imagine keeping your job in the private sector if you “joked about” killing your boss’ wife.  Even better, imagine keeping your job if your job was to protect the boss’ wife.  I’d fire your ass in a millisecond.
Now, the officer is a 17 year MPD veteran.  So, you don’t want to just ruin someone’s career without significance due process.  The problem with the MPD is that there’s usually a lot of process, and not a lot of resolution.  Regardless of the outcome, I can’t imagine this person being permitted anywhere near the President, or any kind of security detail, in the future.