Woman calls out fellow cop for shoving protester
Man under investigation over the incident complains she violated social media policy
Police Officer Krystle Smith hailed as a hero when she called out a fellow officer who had shoved a protester in Fort Lauderdale. But when she thanked everyone on social media, it was too much for the other cop.
Officer Steven Pohorence, the man under investigation over the shoving incident, told his bosses Smith should be sanctioned for violating the department’s social media policy, according to records reviewed by the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
Pohorence contacted the Department’s Office of Internal Affairs on June 4, complaining that Smith’s post could “further divide the department.”
On Thursday, the Office of Internal affairs sided with Smith, writing to Pohorence that “the described matter is not a violation of department policy.”
Pohorence is currently relieved of duty pending a Florida Department of Law Enforcement review of the events of the May 31. Officers relieved of duty in the Fort Lauderdale Police Force still collect a paycheck, according to the department’s policies.
Smith’s post on Instagram features the now iconic photo of her, a black female officer, pointing and yelling at Pohorence, a white officer, moments after he shoved a protester. The image has gone viral as the nation enters its third week of protests over Floyd’s death in Minneapolis while Floyd
was in police custody.
“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we see injustice and fail to check it,” she writes in the post.
In a series of text messages Pohorence sent to a lieutenant on the Fort Lauderdale police force, he claims that Smith’s post “continues the effects of my character being tarnished.”
“She is formulating the
view that I am already guilty,” he goes on to write, arguing that the post was “strategically planned” and could create division within the department.
The Office of Internal Affairs acknowledged the complaint the next day and wrote back to Pohorence on Thursday, saying that the post was “not a violation of department policy.”
Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis has publicly praised Smith, saying that actions like hers “help prevent tragedies like what happened in Minneapolis.”
Officers Smith and Pohorence did not respond to
“She is formulating the view that I am already guilty.”
Officer Steven Pohorence
requests for comment. A spokeswoman for the Fort Lauderdale Police Department said department policy prohibits officers from speaking to the news media unless it has been explicitly authorized.