Last Updated on October 19, 2021
Video footage from Seattle, Washington shows members of the Seattle police fire departments returning their work-issued boots to City Hall after being fired for not complying with the city’s restrictive and highly controversial vaccine mandate.
In footage posted by Katie Daviscourt of The Post Millennial, the fired employees can be seen trudging up the steps of City Hall, and serving food to members of the local homeless population.
Seattle PD and Seattle Fire walking up the stairs of Seattle City Hall to turn in their boots. These a excellent officers and firefighters with years of service that truly can’t be replaced. pic.twitter.com/OmfrMhCNpc
— Katie Daviscourt🇺🇸 (@KatieDaviscourt) October 19, 2021
The city lost heroes today. pic.twitter.com/RDUUFm5CKy
— Katie Daviscourt🇺🇸 (@KatieDaviscourt) October 19, 2021
The city’s vaccine mandate was slammed by the president of the Seattle Police Officer’s Guild this week in a statement that read, “SPOG members want to continue to show up tomorrow to serve our community. These terrific human beings want to be the ones who answer the 911 calls for help. SPOG has requested the City of Seattle follow other large American cities, such as San Jose, Chicago and Milwaukee as they have allowed reasonable accommodations for their police officers through masking and testing.”
“Though we’ve heard and seen in the city’s media blitz today on the current vaccine verification numbers, SPOG has asked the city for clarification on these numbers as we believe that the city is not being fully transparent,” the statement continued. “Trading the COVID-19 public health crisis for a looming public safety staffing crisis is gross mismanagement. SPOG believes that this isn’t about whether or not you’re vaccinated, it is strictly about saving jobs and continuing to provide public safety to the City of Seattle.”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: SPOG Reaction to the City of Seattle's Vaccine Mandate pic.twitter.com/ijgqxpmgyB
— Seattle Police Officers Guild (@SPOG1952) October 19, 2021
Among the employees who faced termination under the mandate were officers who required a medical accommodation, including “an organ transplant recipient who cannot get the vaccine due to an anti-rejection medication, as well as a pregnant female officer who has a ‘contraindication’ to the vaccine.”
