A former Virginia officer who was fired after donating to Kyle Rittenhouse's defense fund says he wants his job back

• A former cop who gave to Kyle Rittenhouse's defense fund told the Daily Mail he wants his job back.
• Lt. William Kelly of the Norfolk Police Department in Virginia was fired in April.

A former Virginia cop who was fired after donating to an online legal-defense fund for Kyle Rittenhouse told the Daily Mail he wants his job back.

Lt. William Kelly of the Norfolk Police Department was fired in April after a Guardian report suggested he'd made an anonymous $25 donation through a Christian crowdfunding website called GiveSendGo. The report said information from a data breach of the website indicated he'd used his official email address.

The Guardian reported that in a comment on the site, Kelly said: "God bless. Thank you for your courage. Keep your head up. You've done nothing wrong. Every rank and file police officer supports you. Don't be discouraged by actions of the political class of law enforcement leadership."

On Friday, Rittenhouse was acquitted of charges related to his fatally shooting two men and injuring a third during a protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in August 2020. The protest happened during a time of antiracism demonstrations throughout the US and shortly after the police in Kenosha shot Jacob Blake.

A GiveSendGo campaign for Kelly has collected more than $113,000.

Kelly told the Daily Mail that he'd donated to the fund to help cover Rittenhouse's legal fees, adding that he gave the money anonymously because he did not want to associate the department with the donation.

"I was interested in giving him the chance to defend himself in front of a jury," Kelly told the outlet. "I know that lawyers are expensive, and it's hard sometimes to get the message out there. I wanted to make sure that he had the means necessary to make his claim in court."

The report said Kelly filed a grievance in which he noted that the chief of police had been pictured in uniform holding a sign at a Black Lives Matter protest last year. "The hypocrisy is dumbfounding," Kelly said.

He added: "The sign demanded justice for that person, but that shooting was still under investigation to determine whether or not that officer should be charged criminally. It's very inconsistent."