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NYPD Facebook Group Reveals Contempt For West Indian-American Day Parade
By
John Del Signore
Published Dec 6, 2011
Modified Dec 6, 2011
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By
John Del Signore
Published Dec 6, 2011
Modified Dec 6, 2011
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A spokesman for the Brooklyn DA says the office will investigate NYPD officers who may be linked to a Facebook group complaining about having to work the West Indian-American Day Carnival. The group called itself "No More West Indian Day Detail," and said it was intended for "NYPD officers who are threatened by superiors and forced to be victims themselves by the violence of the West Indian Day massacre." Printed out, the messages added up to 70 pages with comments such as "Let them kill each other," which was made by someone whose name matched an NYPD officer.
The existence of the group came to light when a lawyer for Brooklyn Defender Services was doing research on a police officer who arrested his client on gun charges after the parade. Sgt. Dustin Edwards's Facebook profile showed that he belonged to the group, and attorney Benjamin Moore told the Times he found the comments "astounding" in their "reckless explicitness." Here are some of the lowlights, according to a copy of the discussion obtained by the Times:
- One commenter referred to working the parade detail as "ghetto training," while another recommended relocating the parade "to the zoo."
- The safety of cops should be more important that the safety of "the animals," said one.
- "It's not racist if it's true," declared another.
- "Welcome to the Liberal NYC Gale, where if the cops sneeze too loud they get investigated for excessive force but the ‘civilians’ can run around like savages and there are no repercussions," one person opined.
- "Why is everyone calling this a parade," a group member asked. "It’s a scheduled riot."
- Another suggested, "I say have the parade one more year, and when they all gather drop a bomb and wipe them all out."
That last gem reportedly came from a cop named Dan Rodney. The Times rang him up, and while he admitted he used Facebook, he told the Times, "That wasn’t me. I leave my phone around sometimes. Other than that I have no comment." Moore, the attorney, had many of the offensive comments read in open court, and Moore argued that Sergeant Edwards might have planted the gun on his client. In the end he was acquitted. And the Facebook page has been taken down.
Of course, none of this will come as any real shock for anyone who's familiar with the police message board NYPD Rant, where today the cop commenters are posting such remarks as, "For the record, most of the participants at the West Indies Day Parade are fvcking savages who walked out from the jungle 2 minutes ago." It's really a shame this year's West Indian-American Day Parade had to end on this sour note; despite the random gunfire, the police seemed to be having such a fun time!
Tagged
nypd
nypd rant
west indian day parade
west indian american day parade
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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