Brooklyn Teacher Fired Over Alleged Anti-Police Instagram Post, Says His Comment ‘Misconstrued’

A teacher from Brooklyn has been fired after he allegedly posted an Instagram story that encouraged police “reciprocity” during the funeral of detective Jason Rivera, who was killed on Jan. 21 while responding to a domestic disturbance report. The teacher said his comments were “misconstrued.”

The Coney Island Prep made the announcement regarding math teacher Chris Flanigan’s removal Sunday. In a statement, school CEO Leslie-Bernard Joseph said the school does “not condone or promote violence of any sort. As of this afternoon, Mr. Flanigan is no longer employed at Coney Island Prep,” New York Post reported.

Joseph added that Coney Island Prep teachers “are public servants,” pointing out that “we work hard to serve the young people in our community, and we know our police officers do as well, taking innumerable risks, to keep our city safe.”

Flanigan’s Instagram story in question, which has since been deleted, featured an overhead shot of police officers on Fifth Avenue during Rivera’s funeral Friday. Flanigan captioned the post “5/30/20: NYPD SUV drives into a crowd of protesters. Ideal conditions for reciprocity.”

Speaking with the outlet Sunday, Flanigan said, “I was really just trying to show the vulnerability of all these police officers being in the same place at the same time which seems like a dangerous situation for anyone that would be that gathered together. I respect the NYPD. I do not condone violence,” he said. Flanigan argued that the message in his post was “misconstrued.”

He added that he was only “trying to draw a parallel between” Friday’s police turnout and the crowd of protesters in Brooklyn in the wake of George Floyd’s death in 2020.

At that time, a New York Police Department vehicle drove through a group of demonstrators. “I realized the way that it was framed looked as though I was trying to incident violence and that was not at all what I wanted to come of that post and that’s why I took it down immediately,” he explained.

Rivera’s funeral was attended by thousands of police officers who gathered at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan.

Rivera, 22, was responding to a report of a domestic disturbance in Harlem when he and his partner, Wilbert Mora, were fatally shot by Lashawn McNeil, The New York Times reported. Rivera joined the police only 14 months before he died in the line of duty, becoming one of the youngest police officers who died on duty in New York City.