Overview
- Abigail Gardner, communications director for County Executive Sara Innamorato, posted an Instagram video responding to KDKA host Colin Dunlap in which she said he should “smoke a pack on a bridge and then jump.”
- Gardner issued a public apology saying the comment was ‘‘tasteless’’ and took responsibility for her lapse in judgment while representing the county.
- Gardner was placed on administrative leave Monday as Allegheny County announced an internal investigation into the matter.
- Dunlap says more than 100 county workers contacted him expressing alarm and fear of retaliation, and Pittsburgh City Council Chair Barb Warwick publicly defended Gardner on social media, highlighting a political split in reactions.
- The exchange grew out of recent Code Red/Orange/Maroon air quality alerts from Canadian wildfire smoke and has focused attention on mental-health sensitivity in county operations, questions about whether the leave is paid, and what disciplinary outcome the investigation may produce.