New York Mayor Bill de Blasio condemned the NYPD on Monday, calling them “disrespectful” for using the funerals of two slain officers as a platform to scorn him.
Ever since a black Muslim man murdered two NYPD officers to avenge the asthmatic Eric Garner, the NYPD has turned away from the mayor in public, especially during the funerals for the slain officers.
An angry de Blasio criticized the officers who snubbed him, saying they “showed disrespect” for the families of the officers.
“They were disrespectful to the families involved,” the mayor said on Monday. “They were disrespectful to the families who had lost their loved ones. I can’t understand why anyone would do such a thing in the context like that.”
NYPD Police Commissioner Bill Bratton scolded officers for turning their backs to de Blasio, calling their actions “selfish.”
“I share the mayors concern about the idea of what is effectively a labor action being taken in the middle of the funeral,” Bratton said on Monday. “We are honoring the death of two police officers. I just don’t understand it. I just do not understand it. What is the need in the middle of that ceremony to engage in a political action?”
But a representative for the police officers warned the top cop and the mayor both that police officers have First Amendment rights, too.
“Police have First Amendment rights and their actions were done in protest to deliver a message. They didn’t break a single law and they didn’t utter a single word and yet their actions made a statement that was recognized nationally and have never been done before to any mayor in the nation,” Sergeants Union President Edward Mullins said.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter: @warnerthuston. Email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.