High school football coach says he was smeared and fired because of his job as Portland police sergeant

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Ken Duilio, a now-fired Portland-area high school football coach, claims he was dismissed as a coach for Cleveland High School by Portland Public Schools’ officials because of his other work as a sergeant with the Portland Police Bureau.

“Duilio said there was a group — he did not know who — that put pressure on the school district to fire him as football coach,” The Oregonian reported Wednesday.

“Duilio believes a campaign to remove him at Cleveland began after he spoke during a news conference at North Precinct on June 26. Fliers with Duilio’s picture attaching him to past incidents as a police officer were stapled to telephone poles throughout Portland in recent weeks.”

During the June 26th conference, Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell, a black man, and several local black leaders slammed the city’s notorious left-wing extremists for attacking and vandalizing Portland’s North Precinct the night before.

Duilio can be heard from the 25-minute mark in the video below:

Watch: Community leaders hold news conference on overnight violence in NE Portland

City and community leaders, including Mayor Ted Wheeler and Police Chief Chuck Lovell, hold a news conference to denounce the violence last night in Northeast Portland. Demonstrators clashed with police, set fire to PPB’s North Precinct and damaged businesses.

Posted by KGW-TV on Friday, June 26, 2020

The fliers mentioned by Duilio reportedly smear him over two past incidents, one from 2001, and another from nearly 20 years ago.

The 2001 incident involved him and three other off-duty officers being assaulted by “at least five gang associates” outside a restaurant. The other involved Duilio accidentally shooting the victim instead of the perpetrator.

“Duilio responded to a call about a man with a gun at a convenience store gas station on Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. [Bruce] Browne had wrestled a 9mm handgun from the man in question,” The Oregonian reported.

“Duilio mistook Browne for the man who had had the gun and shot and wounded him. A Multnomah County grand jury found no criminal wrongdoing, but Police Chief Mark Kroeker called the shooting ‘regretful’ and visited Browne in the hospital.”

After Duilio spoke at the presser on June 26th, far-left zealots on social media began complaining about his presence at the event and alleging that he’s a “killer cop.”

It’s not clear who he’s ever killed …

Look:

In a statement to The Oregonian, Duilio claimed he was called into the school district’s office roughly a week ago and confronted about the two incidents cited above.

“Duilio said he was told that the district ‘didn’t see a path moving forward because of pressure they’re getting’ and was asked to resign. Duilio said he respectfully declined,” the paper reported.

“Later in the week, he was again asked to resign, he said, and again Duilio said he didn’t think that was the right thing to do. Duilio declined to say who called him into the district office or who asked him to resign.”

A day later, he was formally dismissed.

“It’s unjust, from whoever is leading this. PPS still had a role in it. They could have stood up to them,” he said to The Oregonian.

The district has denied firing him because of external pressure.

Speaking with The Oregonian, PPS athletic director Marshall Haskins said the district had simply chosen to not renew Duilio’s contract for this year but declined to explain why. He did claim though that the decision had nothing to do with Duilio’s other work.

Duilio disputes that.

“100 percent,” he said when asked whether his termination was really due to his other work.

Daryl Turner, the president of the Portland Police Association, appears to believe Duilio and not Haskins.

“He’s built relationships and partnerships with people and youth in the community. He lives in Portland, raises his family in Portland and has helped direct dozens of kids who may otherwise be going a different direction were they not playing football,” he reportedly said in a statement.

“It is a shame and unfair that they fired him based on the fact that he’s a Portland police officer. It is discriminatory and contrary to what they should be teaching kids in school.”

Scott Idler, the president of Cleveland High School’s booster club, added that the decision shocked the community.

The fact is that, besides being a 23-year police veteran, Duilio is also a football expert who “was head coach at Madison [High School] from 2006-09, and at Wilson [High School] from 2011-16,” according to The Oregonian.

In a statement, he said he’s not sure if he’ll return to football coaching.

“I’m at a loss for words, frankly. I love working with kids. Potentially, someday I’ll be back. I was committed to the PIL and PPS and city of Portland. It ties into what I do,” said.

Duilio’s ouster comes as an increasing number of Portland officials, including Mayor Ted Wheeler, are embracing far-left extremism.

Meanwhile, his top challenger in the 2020 race is a white woman, Sarah Iannarone, who identifies as a proud member of the terrorist group Antifa.

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