11 Investigates: Pittsburgh police not authorized to attend Trump rally

PITTSBURGH — A major development in a story 11 Investigates first broke in July about 10 Pittsburgh motorcycle officers who were at the Trump rally in Butler when the former president was shot.

>> 11 Investigates Exclusive: Pittsburgh motorcycle officers transferred after working Trump rally

Channel 11 Chief Investigator Rick Earle spoke with Police Chief Larry Scirotto about the controversy.

The chief told Earle that the supervisor who decided to take officers to the rally wasn’t authorized to do that and didn’t follow proper procedures.

Earle: Was that motorcycle unit authorized to go to the Trump rally where he was shot? Were they authorized to go there?

Scirotto: Plain and simple no.

Earle: What was that?

Scirotto: Plain and simple no.

Earle: They were not authorized to go there.

Chief Scirotto confirmed for the first time that Pittsburgh motorcycle officers who escorted former President Donald Trump from the airport to that rally in Butler County where he was shot in the ear were not authorized to be there.

Scirotto, who says his officers routinely assist with dignitary escorts, said the supervising officer who decided to take officers to the Trump rally didn’t get permission.

“The person that made the decision to be a part of that escort was not in that decision-making tree.  Follow protocol, follow policies or expect there to be consequences,” said Scirotto.

The chief confirmed what 11 Investigates had learned through sources that he and other commanders had no idea that the officers were in Butler, and found out after watching news reports.

This afternoon Police Officer Union President Robert Swartzwelder disputed the chief’s claims.

Swartzwelder contends the Command Staff knew the cycle unit was assisting Pennsylvania State Police with the Trump detail.

Swartzwelder said the motorcycle unit routinely works with State Police when politicians and dignitaries come to western Pennsylvania.

“Either a communication error occurred or someone is politicizing police work,” Swartzwelder said in an email to 11 Investigates.

Ten Pittsburgh cycle officers worked the detail.

Four of them suffered minor shrapnel wounds when the shots rang out.

One person was killed and two others were critically wounded.

The former president was hit in the ear.

While an internal investigation is underway into the supervisor who made the call to go to the rally, Scirotto praised his officers who were seen in video footage jumping in to help the wounded and carrying them to safety.

“Our officers acted admirable in that moment, right, they acted, they put their personal safety in jeopardy to save the former president, and to save citizens attending that rally. What my officers do every day, they put themselves in harm’s way for people they have never met and that’s commendable,” said Scirotto.

Just days after the rally, two motorcycle unit supervisors were removed from the unit, but the chief said Thursday that was not related to the rally.

Sources said that involves questions about excessive overtime.

The union has filed a grievance in an effort to get those officers reinstated.

Scirotto said an internal investigation into the supervisor’s decision to go to the rally has yet to be completed.

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