BALTIMORE _ Joel Fitzgerald, the Baltimore mayor's choice to become the city's next police commissioner, has withdrawn from consideration for the job, according to the Fort Worth Police Department.
The move comes after one of Fitzgerald's sons suffered a medical emergency that led Mayor Catherine Pugh's team to cancel a round of public meetings and his appearance at a City Council hearing in early January.
It means more uncertainty for a police department that has now been without a permanent leader since May, when Darryl De Sousa, the previous commissioner, resigned after being charged with failing to file federal tax returns.
Pugh named Fitzgerald, the police chief in Fort Worth, Texas, her choice on Nov. 16, following months of searching.
His public rollout was bumpy from the beginning. He was not in Baltimore when he was named. During his first public visit to the city, he announced that _ in a break with past nominees _ he would continue in his Fort Worth job until the Baltimore City Council voted on whether to confirm him as commissioner.
Council members raised questions about an opaque process that led to Fitzgerald's selection, and he initially declined to release a copy of his resume. Four council members announced they wouldn't support him unless Pugh shared the results of a background check, and they ultimately were shown a redacted version of an investigation report.
After Pugh released his resume as part of submitting his nomination to the council, The Baltimore Sun and The Morning Call of Allentown, Pennsylvania, found he overstated his accomplishments as chief in both Fort Worth in Allentown, including misrepresenting his role in the introduction of body cameras in those cities.
Then, on the eve of a critical weekend that was Fitzgerald's sole opportunity to build public support in Baltimore ahead of the council vote, Pugh announced that the visit was cancelled because of his 13-year-old son's health problems.
The path forward now for the mayor and the police department is unclear. Police continue to battle high levels of violent crime at the same time the department embarks on the second phase of implementing a civil rights decree. The federal judge overseeing the decree has stressed the need for stable leadership at the department, but Fitzgerald's withdrawal likely means weeks of further uncertainty, at the least.
Gary Tuggle, a former DEA official, has been leading the department as an interim commissioner since De Sousa's resignation.
Pugh had assembled a list of five other candidates who were interviewed by a panel of experts in Florida, according to sources familiar with the interviews. But it's not known whether any of them would still be interested in the position.
