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Fitzsimmons Prepares Town Lawsuit and Police Investigate ‘Unauthorized’ Facebook Comment

Attention shifts from the acquittal to scrutiny of police procedure, social media access, policy gaps.

Overview

  • Kelsey Fitzsimmons, found not guilty last week of assault with a dangerous weapon, is sending presentment letters that begin civil-rights and negligence claims against North Andover.
  • North Andover police opened an internal investigation after a comment about the case appeared from the department’s Facebook account, took the page offline, and ordered a full audit of town social media access.
  • Officials say a former employee who was not authorized to use the account accessed it and wrote “in other shocking news!” under a post about Fitzsimmons’s planned lawsuit.
  • Fitzsimmons called the remark heartless and posted a photo of her bullet wound, noting she endured a punctured lung and more than 50 days of surgeries and recovery.
  • Her lawyer is challenging how officers served the restraining order and the lack of body cameras, a gap the trial judge said undercut the case because no officer-worn video existed.