Polk City announced it is settling a lawsuit filed by Alissa Furry, a paramedic voted the 2025 Medic of the Year by her peers, who the city fired last October after posting on Facebook about the death of rightwing activist and media figure Charlie Kirk.
“The city’s insurer will pay Ms. Furry $189,000 on the city’s behalf as well as fees to her counsel,” according to a written statement by an attorney representing Polk City.
Kirk was shot and killed during an outdoor event at the University of Utah last year on Sept. 10. Furry, who was off duty that day, responded to the killing in a post on her personal Facebook page.
“Why I really don’t care that this guy died from gun violence,” she began. “He was a bigoted prick, and according to his own words he died in an acceptable way. I have as much sympathy and empathy for him as that insurance CEO that was killed. I do care that two high school students were critically injured today due to gun violence at their school. Unfortunately, I’m seeing way more about this a–hole on my Facebook than I am the kids that were hurt.”
Kirk was outspoken in his opposition to calls for government action on gun safety after mass shootings, including school shootings.
“I think it’s worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights,” he said in 2023.
According to her filing in the lawsuit, Furry was contacted almost immediately by a colleague who warned her to be careful about making comments about Kirk. She deleted her comments four minutes after posting them.
Later that day, still off-duty and at home, she posted again on her Facebook page.
“Meanwhile, all I’m seeing is people extolling the virtues of the guy that said empathy is fake and condoned deaths from gun violence as long as we get to keep the second amendment,” she wrote. “And yet people who are out of empathy to care about him are the bad ones.”
She followed that quickly with another post featuring a popular quote that’s misattributed to Oscar Wilde — “Some men improve the world only by leaving it” — adding, “I can choose to not celebrate, but also not be sad.”
According to the lawsuit Polk City Police Chief Jeremy Siepker phoned Karla Hogrefe the next day about the Facebook posts, saying some of his officers had complained. Five days later, Hogrefe put Furry on administrative leave, telling her the city was reviewing her posts about Kirk. The review, conducted by city manager Chelsea Huisman, finished on Sept. 22. Huisman recommended that the city fire Furry. She was fired on Oct. 24.
There was no cause to fire Furry based on her performance as a paramedic, the lawsuit stated. In addition to being selected as Medic of the Year in 2025, she had also been named Rookie of the Year in 2024, and had received four Lifesaving Awards between 2023 and 2025.
In December, Furry sued in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa alleging that firing her over a Facebook post she made as a private citizen violated her First Amendment rights. Although it is making a six-figure payment to Furry, Polk City did not admit to any wrongdoing as part of the settlement.
According to the statement from the attorney representing the city, “Polk City leaders maintain that Ms. Furry’s termination was within the bounds of the law,” but now believe settling “was necessary so that municipal departments and staff could move on and focus on their mission: serving the citizens of Polk City.”
According to an investigation published last November by Reuters, more than 600 people across the country were fired, suspended, subjected to an investigation or faced other disciplinary proceedings for comments made about Kirk after his death. In Perry County, Tennessee, a retired law enforcement office was arrested and held in jail with bail set $2 million for 37 days for posting a meme the sheriff claimed caused “mass panic.”
“The meme quoted President Trump reacting to a school shooting in 2024 at Perry High School in Iowa: ‘We have to get over it,’” NPR reported. “After his release, Bushart received a $835,000 settlement.”
At least 10 public employees in Iowa were fired or subjected to discipline over their statements about Kirk. In April, Creston Community School District settled a lawsuit by a former teacher, who commented on a relative’s Facebook post about Kirk.
“He is a terrible human being … terrible,” Crook wrote. “I do not wish death on anyone, but him not being here is a blessing.” The district paid the teacher $145,000, as well as her full salary and benefits for the year, which amount to $82,000.
In May, the state of Iowa paid $125,000 to settle a lawsuit by an attorney fired by the State Public Defender’s Office five days after citing passage from the New Testament about those who “live by the sword” (Matthew 25:26) and reaping what one sows (Galatians 6:7-9) in a post about Kirk on her personal Facebook page.
Like Polk City, neither the school district nor the state acknowledged any wrongdoing as part of their settlements.
