After attending the county legislature’s meeting on April 15, Kingston School Board Trustee Anthony Fitzpatrick went into a nearby bathroom, took a photo, and posted it to social media. The post, which Fitzpatrick later deleted, shows him holding a knife in a suit and tie, with the caption: “I appreciate how the wand cannot find your weapons when you have a suit and tie on.”
Speaking with WAMC, Fitzpatrick says he didn’t mean the post as a threat — he meant to comment on inconsistent security at the county building. When attending previous meetings in his everyday getup, Fitzpatrick says he was screened with a metal detecting wand and asked to turn his knife in to security. When he was all dressed up, however, he says there were no second guesses.
“When I went through the security, it made no noise. I turned around and I looked at [the security guard], and I thought about it, and I started talking to him like, ‘Man, does that thing actually work?’" he tells WAMC. "And he was like, 'Oh yeah, you got metal on you, but [you're good].' And then someone else walks up to go through security, and I figured I should probably just let it go, you know?”
Fitzpatrick tells WAMC he didn’t expect the post to gain traction. But it did — enough to land in a group chat that included members of the county legislature’s Republican caucus, which promptly called for a full investigation as well as an overhaul of the building’s security protocol.
"Our security system, [this] shows the open holes that it has," says Minority Leader Kevin Roberts. "And I'm not just talking about legislators' [safety], who come in on the third Tuesday of every month. I'm talking about the everyday staff that needs to come to work, nine to five, and so on. Every single day of the week, they should feel safe when they come to work. And a lot of them don't."
Ulster County Sheriff Juan Figueroa, a Democrat, says his office has spoken with Fitzpatrick and is conducting an investigation. But so far, he doesn’t expect any criminal charges. He notes the knife Fitzpatrick carried was a pocketknife, which are legal, and the photo was taken inside a closed bathroom stall.
“He didn’t brandish it against anyone. So, there’s no real criminal charges here other than he’s not gonna be allowed in the building," says Figueroa. "We’re still gonna look into this further, but I don’t see, at this point, any potential criminal charges unless something is developed later on. He’s an ideologue. He was trying to make a point. And I think that’s as far as it’s going to go.”
Figueroa says this isn’t the first time knives have sparked concern at the county building, and that even legislators have walked in with strapped field knives in the past. He says the county has taken measures to boost security in recent years, including installing a new camera system. But he says striking the balance between tightening security and maintaining public access is tricky, and not something he can direct on his own.
“I can’t arbitrarily make security changes without approval of the folks that work in the building, because of the importance of public access," he adds. "You have the Department of Motor Vehicles, the county clerk, the county comptroller, the county executive, and the county legislature. So ultimately, it’s up to all those folks, but in particular the county executive.”
In a statement to WAMC, County Executive Jen Metzger called the incident a “serious matter,” adding: “The safety of our elected officials, staff and community members is of paramount importance.” The Democrat says her office met with the sheriff Tuesday afternoon to discuss his recommendations.
Roberts has a few recommendations of his own. He and his colleagues want more metal detectors — the kind you can walk through — bag checks, and security personnel at county meetings. He also says there should just be one secure entrance to the building, not two, and unattended stairwells should be closed after hours.
“There’s no reason after 5 o’clock for people to be wandering around the building once they come in through the main door," he explains.
Roberts says the Republican caucus is working on a resolution that it wants to submit before a deadline Thursday. Democratic Legislature Chair Peter Criswell says the body is taking the incident “very seriously,” and “cooperating fully with law enforcement to understand how this occurred and what improvements may be necessary.”
Fitzpatrick, who won a three-year term on the school board last year, says he wants people to know he isn’t dangerous. At the meeting, he only addressed legislators to thank them for supporting Ukraine in its war with Russia. He says he’s not surprised by some of the response to the post, but he is uncomfortable with the extent of it, recalling a recent trip to Burger King.
"As soon as I walked in, I could hear everyone, like, panicking because Anthony Fitzpatrick walked in," he says. "And this is really uncomfortable. I’m scared.”
Neither the Kingston Central School District nor its Board of Education returned a request for comment Tuesday.
