A Los Angeles police officer who became a gun rights influencer alleged in a lawsuit last year that she faced retaliation after refusing the former president's orders to delete her social media accounts, which showed her shooting rifles at shooting competitions and at training ranges.
On Thursday, after a two-and-a-half-day trial, the jury responded to a question about whether Officer Tony McBride had been treated unfairly with a one-word answer: “No.”
McBride claimed that former LAPD Chief Michelle Moore blocked her promotions after she refused to remove some videos on social media. She claimed that Moore, who retired at the end of last February, summoned her to a meeting in his office, during which he demanded that she delete her social media accounts or else “he would destroy my career.”
McBride's lawyer, Gregory Smith, said he was “disappointed” with the ruling and said McBride's rights to free expression had been violated. He said his client will not appeal the decision but plans to file a separate gender discrimination lawsuit in state court over allegations that male officers were treated more leniently due to similar behavior.
McBride's father, Jimmy McBride, is one of nine directors in the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the powerful union that represents the city's rank-and-file officers.
During the trial, jurors heard testimony from Jimmy and several high-ranking LAPD officials and were shown zoomed-in photos of McBride in pornographic clothing, firing high-powered weapons.
The photos and videos shown on a large screen for the jury came from McBride's Instagram account, where she has amassed about 120,000 followers.
One post showed McBride with her hand on her head, wearing a tank top that read “FEMINIS9MM.” She was holding a gun in her right hand, which she described as a “sexy Glock” in her caption. In another post, the officer appeared wearing a navy blue LAPD uniform, placing her hand on her hip, with the caption: “This will always be the greatest job in the world.”
During the trial, one of McBride's attorneys, Beth Correia, said the case was “a perfect example of a dispute over the content of free speech.”
Los Angeles Assistant City Attorney Anita Freeman denied that Moore asked McBride to delete her account. Instead, it depicted McBride as a disgruntled employee who “seeks to use her position and badge to make money, become famous, and become influential.”
“Yes, she has the right to post on her social media,” Freeman said. “But with that right comes a responsibility, and she did not fulfill that responsibility.”
Freeman noted that McBride fatally shot someone in the line of duty, a case that sparked a lawsuit in part because she continued shooting after the person was hit and fell to the ground. A federal appeals court ruled last month that McBride is protected in federal lawsuits under the legal doctrine of qualified immunity, regardless of whether she used excessive force.
Freeman questioned whether McBride had suffered “emotional distress” due to the social media dispute, a claim the officer said entitled her to $100,000 in damages.
“I shot and killed a man,” Freeman said. “But the emotional distress she is experiencing and for which she is asking you for financial recompense is that she was asked to remove her Instagram account.”
Freeman referred to McBride as a “gun influencer” and “social media influencer” and spoke at length about the money McBride earned for sponsored Instagram posts, along with free items she received, including a ballistic vest, facials, ammunition and other items. Wig extensions. It also brought up McBride's wedding, in which he was photographed carrying weapons.
“I believe I have the right to talk about whatever I want on Instagram, especially topics that involve the Second Amendment,” McBride testified.
McBride has been on medical leave since November 2022 due to “severe physical symptoms caused by and exacerbated by the stress of the lawsuit,” according to one court document. She returned to work only briefly to take another vacation. She has since moved temporarily to Northern California to receive treatment for ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease.
Looming over the trial was McBride's April 2020 fatal shooting of a man named Daniel Hernandez as he walked toward her and her police partner while holding a box cutter. After Hernandez ignored repeated commands to drop the weapon, McBride fired three two-shot volleys — the last of which struck Hernandez as he rolled on the ground.
The Los Angeles Police Commission concluded that McBride's final two shots were outside the scope of policy, leading both Moore and the Internal Review Board to overrule.
The case attracted significant criticism at the time, with critics citing McBride's previous social media posts carrying a gun as evidence of a propensity toward violence. Most of those photos predated the shooting of Hernandez, McBride said in her lawsuit.
Hernandez's family later filed a wrongful death lawsuit that is now being pursued in state court after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the family's federal claims last month.
California Atty. The office of General Rob Bonta, which investigated the shooting, later cleared McBride of wrongdoing based in part on the “expert opinion” of the controversial police advisor on the use of force.
After Hernandez was shot, a department committee recommended she be placed on short-term restricted duty, effectively taking her off the field.
The trial focused in large part on a half-hour meeting McBride had with Moore on September 30, 2022. McBride testified that was when Moore raised her social media issue.
“He told me that as long as I was on social media my career here at the LAPD was over,” McBride testified. “It's one or the other, it's your career here at the LAPD or your social media, but you're never going to have both,” he said.
McBride said she did not delete her account or stop posting. She testified that before the meeting she had been in remission from ulcerative colitis for about a year, but then “she started getting very sick again.”
Moore, who flew in from Tennessee, where he moved after retiring, denied giving such an ultimatum.
“I warned her that the nature of her posts reflected poorly on the department,” Moore said. “I wanted her to be mindful of that, that it affects the department, and that it affects her, in terms of her standing.”
Moore later testified that McBride's social media “affected her credibility.”
He admitted to overturning the recommendation to remove McBride from office duty. He said he based his decision on the fact that there was a pending investigation connected to the shooting of Hernandez and on McBride's use of the city's intellectual property on social media.
Freeman, an assistant city attorney, told the jury in her closing remarks that McBride was “enjoying” the attention she received while appearing in an LAPD uniform on Instagram.
“She gets money, she has contracts with companies, she gets freebies, she's met Keanu Reeves,” Freeman said. “This would not have happened if Plaintiff had not been an LAPD officer. “She'll be just another young lady with a gun.”
