Cleveland Fire Chief Retiring Amid Social Media Post Flap
cleveland.com
(TNS)
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Cleveland Fire Chief Anthony Luke has agreed to retire months after he reposted a political cartoon that criticized conservative activist Charlie Kirk just two days after Kirk was shot and killed in Utah.
Luke and the city reached a settlement agreement, where the fire chief will retire Jan. 18 and Cleveland will pay Luke’s attorneys $10,000. The fire chief had been on paid leave since September when Cleveland launched an investigation to see if Luke violated city policy.
City spokesperson Tyler Sinclair confirmed Luke’s retirement, saying the fire chief voluntarily stepped down before Cleveland’s investigation was finished. He clarified that no payments will be sent to Luke under the settlement.
Cleveland.com has reached out to Luke’s attorney for comment. He was appointed fire chief in November 2022 and is a 32-year veteran of the Cleveland Division of Fire.
Records show Luke sent a two-sentence email Saturday declaring his intent to retire. The settlement agreement, provided to cleveland.com by the city, says Luke will not take legal action against the city regarding his departure.
The settlement closes a months-long controversy that began after Luke reposted a political cartoon on Facebook criticizing Republicans and their views on gun control. He made the post just days after Kirk, a 31-year-old co-founder of Turning Point USA, was fatally shot on the campus of Utah Valley University. The post was later deleted.
The cartoon, created by Slyngstad Cartoons, depicted an elephant — a symbol of the Republican Party — standing beside a large golden assault rifle atop an altar, with bodies shown on steps leading up to it. The elephant shouts to the crowd: “Bring out the next sacrifice!!” Elephants in suits surround the altar, bowing down to the rifle.
Above the image was a quote attributed to Kirk defending the Second Amendment despite gun deaths: “I think it’s worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, a few gun deaths every single year so that we can have the 2nd amendment.”
Kirk’s quote, from 2023, resurfaced after his assassination and has been widely used to criticize him.
The post sparked swift backlash and prompted the city to place Luke on leave.
At the time, Mayor Justin Bibb publicly denounced the post, calling it insensitive and inappropriate for a public safety leader in a city that struggles with gun violence.
“Chief Luke’s post crossed the line,” Bibb said. “It was insensitive, it was incendiary, and it did not reflect the values of compassion, unity, and safety that I strive to stand for — and that every public safety leader in this city should embody. We should never glorify violence; we should confront it, heal from it, and work tirelessly to prevent its next occurrence.”
Kirk’s death led to an uproar of politically polarized posts on social media. Some liberal-leaning posters on social media have criticized Kirk or even made light of his death. While conservatives have blamed liberals saying their rhetoric led to his killing.
Luke initially appeared to double down on his stance in a separate Facebook post, writing that he owned firearms but believed Republican opposition to certain gun regulations was “inhuman and immoral.” He later deleted that post, and it appears that his original Facebook profile is now deleted.
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