Family Emergency Forces Delay In Fitzgerald Confirmation Proceedings

Joel Fitzgerald will be unable to come to Baltimore this weekend for planned community meetings and City Council hearings on his nomination as Baltimore police commissioner, Mayor Catherine Pugh's office said Thursday.

The delay is due to a medical emergency for his 13-year-old son, something requiring immediate surgery.

"I know that his son, they were walking and his son collapsed, and they rushed him to Children's Hospital and he has a, I don't know if he wants me to say exactly what it is, but the operation has to take place on Friday or Saturday," Pugh said. "It's emergency surgery."

A Saturday hearing to receive testimony from Baltimore residents will go on as scheduled. That will be held Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

"Members of the City Council are praying for a speedy recovery for Mr. Fitzgerald's son," Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young said in a statement.

A new schedule for the other hearings and meetings wasn't immediately available.

Word of the delay follows the release of a 216-page report from a City Council delegation's trip to Fort Worth, Texas, where Fitzgerald remains police chief.

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WBAL-TV 11 contributed to this report.