A Central Texas police department refused to back down when a “woke mob” demanded an apology for a photo of an officer posing with Kyle Rittenhouse during a traffic stop.

Officials with the Thrall, Texas, Police Department published a photo on Facebook of a police officer posing with Kyle Rittenhouse. The photo occurred following a traffic stop.

 “Make those stops, you never know who you might meet. Today it was Kyle Rittenhouse, welcome to Texas,” officials said in the post. In response to criticism over the photo by woke activists, the department added, “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.”

With more than 10,000 reactions to the post, none were “angry” or “sad.” Nearly 6,500 were “laughs” or “love” reactions.
Thrall is located in Central Texas between Austin and College Station. The population of the community is under 1,000 people.

One commenter, Kari Ashpaugh, criticized the department, saying, “Sick you are making him out as a hero. Shame on your officer and this department,” the Daily Mail reported.

The department did not identify the officer or what led to the chance meeting.

After more than 1,800 negative comments, the department refused to take down the photo and added the comments above.

In November 2021, a jury in Kenosha, Wisconsin, found the then 17-year-old Rittenhouse not guilty on all of the charges that were filed against him following the shooting deaths of two people during an August 2020 riot in the midwestern city, Breitbart News reported.

In June, Rittenhouse told Breitbart’s Emma-Jo Morris that he planned to attend Blinn College this year and then move to Texas A&M University in 2023.

Editor’s Note: This article has been corrected to include the word “not” before “guilty” referring to the jury’s verdict in Kyle Rittenhouse’s trial, which was “not guilty.” It was inadvertently omitted. Breitbart News regrets the error.  

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.