Thousands of NYPD Officers Turn Their Backs as de Blasio Speaks at Funeral

Thousands of NYPD officers turned their backs on Mayor Bill de Blasio as televisions broadcasted his speech at Officer Rafael Ramos’s funeral Saturday morning.

The NYPD’s ceremonial unit gave Officer Ramos’s widow an American flag.

Airliner Jet Blue sent officers around the country to Ramos’s funeral.

Last Saturday, 28-year-old Ismaaiyl Abdullah Brinsley shot Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu in their patrol car, parked at the Bedford-Stuyvesant Area of Brooklyn at 2:47 PM. Earlier that day, Brinsley posted a photo of a gun with the caption, “I’m Putting Wings on Pigs Today… Let’s Take 2 of Theirs #ShootThePolice #RIPErivGarner #RIPMikeBrown This May Be My Final Post… I’m Putting Pigs in A Blanket.”

Brinsley shot himself in a G-Train subway station after ambushing the officers.

“It’s difficult to find the words,” New York City Police Commissioner William J. Bratton said last Saturday night. “They were quite simply assassinated, targeted for their uniform.”

Both officers were promoted posthumously to detectives first class. Bratton also appointed Ramos as an honorary chaplain, according to CNN.