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New Rochelle cop suspended for Facebook post

Police investigating whether post violated department's social media policy.

Mark Lungariello
mlungariel@lohud.com

NEW ROCHELLE - A city police sergeant was suspended without pay after writing a Facebook post criticizing the Black Lives Matter movement.

Christopher Castiglia, who was promoted to sergeant in December, was suspended Tuesday and police said he could face further discipline if he  violated the police department’s social media policy.

“We have taken action,” department spokesman Capt. Robert Gazzola said. “We were displeased with what was posted. The officer did not speak for the department.”

Calls to the police union were not immediately returned.

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The issue came to light earlier in August after the website Black Westchester posted an article with a screenshot that showed a Facebook post by an officer using a nickname "Chris Stigs" who said it was fine to protest the police but then went on to criticize the protesters.

“Don’t call the police when your world is in disarray to help deal with the worst 10 minutes of your life, figure it out yourself or better yet, call Shaun King and Black Lives Matter for help,” the post, dated July 8, said. King is a Black Lives Matter activist and columnist.

New Rochelle held a Black Lives Matter march Aug. 7. A second screenshot showed a post dated one day later from the same poster saying, "it was a joke of a protest," but added, "it paid us well."

City Councilman Jared Rice, a Democrat, said that the movement’s agenda has wrongly been categorized as anti-police when its goal has been equity.

He said although the post was disappointing, he didn’t think it reflected a contentious relationship between black residents and the city police department. He hoped it could be a "teaching moment."

“We want to continue (to) enhance community-police relations and we don’t want to let this one incident prevent us from doing so,” he said.

The suspension comes weeks after a Mount Vernon fire department lieutenant was suspended for an Instagram post that expressed support for the sniper who shot and killed five Dallas police officers last month.

Twitter: @marklungariello