A Texas police department is defending an officer who took selfies with teenage gun rights activist Kyle Rittenhouse.
The officer pulled Rittenhouse over for speeding in Thrall, Texas, a small city with a population of about 800, near Austin.
The officer took a selfie with the 19-year-old gun enthusiast and the image was posted on the Thrall Police Department’s Facebook page.
“Make those stops, you never know who you might meet. Today it was Kyle Rittenhouse, welcome to Texas,” the Thrall Police Department wrote in the caption.
The photo went viral, amassing over 1,800 comments, 1,600 shares and 12,000 likes as of Sunday.
The Thrall Police Department declined to identify the officer who is seen smiling with Rittenhouse.
After a furious backlash, the unapologetic police department updated its original post to note that the teenager was found innocent by a jury of his peers in a court of law.
“I must have missed something, I believed that this young man was arrested, charged, indicted and then found not guilty by a jury of his peers. Is this not how our country works anymore? The hate in these comments is terrible, if you have information that is contrary to that I would honestly love to hear it.”
Rittenhouse (sitting on ground) was only 17 when he crossed state lines to help protect local businesses during rioting in Kenosha, Wisconsin in August 2020.
He was acquitted in 2021 of killing two white men and wounding a third at a Jacob Blake protest in Kenosha.
