President of Philadelphia Police Union Calls Black Lives Matter Activists 'a Pack of Rabid Animals'

Philadelphia’s Fraternal Order of Police chapter president unleashed some particularly hostile words to describe Black Lives Matter activists at a “Back the Blue” event last week. While addressing the crowd at a rally organized by the city’s largest police union, president John McNesby referred to BLM activists as “a pack of rabid animals.”

McNesby’s remarks followed a protest at the home of a police officer in Philadelphia, PA, who shot a black man in the back three times as he fled a traffic stop in June. Officer Ryan Pownall fatally shot David Jones, who was on a dirt bike, as he ran away from a traffic stop earlier this summer. Police contend Jones was armed.

In a separate, but similar incident, Pownall, who is a 12-year veteran, shot another man in the back as he fled from officers; Carnell Williams-Carney survived that 2010 shooting, but was paralyzed from the waist down.

A “small, but controversial,” protest hosted by BLM activists outside Pownall’s home in Philadelphia last week sparked McNesby’s comments, according to Newsworks. McNesby spoke to an audience of police officers, former and active, under a “Back the Blue” banner at a counter rally held at FOP headquarters on Thursday.

“When you go to work each day, you shouldn’t have to worry that a pack of rabid animals will suddenly show up at your home and openly threaten your family,” he said. “These are not activists, they are racist hate groups determined to instigate violence.”

McNesby’s comments are unfortunately unsurprising. As The Huffington Post noted, McNesby defended an officer who was photographed with a Nazi insignia tattoo last September. Despite the tattoo’s remarkable resemblance to the official Nazi emblem, an eagle, McNesby told Philly.com: “It’s an Eagle. Not a big deal.”