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NYPD Captains' Union Head: Don't Turn Your Backs On De Blasio At Next Funeral
By
Jen Chung
Published Dec 31, 2014
Modified Dec 31, 2014
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By
Jen Chung
Published Dec 31, 2014
Modified Dec 31, 2014
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After a number of police officers from NYC and beyond turned their backs to Mayor Bill de Blasio during Police Officer Rafael Ramos's funeral, the cops were criticized for their "disrespectful" actions. Now, the head of one police union is specifically telling his members not to repeat the protest at the funeral of Police Officer Wenjian Liu.
Roy Richter, president of the NYPD Captains Endowment Association, said in a memo, "In this forum the appropriate protest is not a sign or turning away from mourners, or people the family has asked to speak, but rather cold, steely silence... In the coming days and weeks you will be looked upon by many for guidance, leadership and advice at a time when many of our peers and officers under our care are deeply angry. Unfortunately, but understandably, this anger provided visual displays of back-turning at the funeral of Police Officer Ramos that caused pain for his loved ones."
Ramos, 40, and Liu, 32, were killed on December 20, while in their squad car, parked on Tompkins Avenue near Myrtle in Bedford-Stuyvesant. They were fatally shot—executed, as Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said—by Ismaaiyl Brinsley, 28, who later killed himself in a subway station. Brinsley posted on social media that he wanted to get back at police for killing Eric Garner in Staten Island and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, but Brinsley's family also said he was mentally ill and "spiraling." Earlier that day Brinsley had shot and wounded an ex-girlfriend in Baltimore.
The vitriol against de Blasio has been on display in public—with Patrolmen's Benevolent Association president Patrick Lynch lashing out at the mayor, saying he had "blood" on his hand for Ramos' and Liu's deaths—and in the public-yet-anonymous hellhole known as the Internet. On Thee Rant, the popular NYPD-only message board, racist comments abound, with members (who must be current or former NYPD in order to join) calling blacks the n-word, saying that someone should plant drugs on de Blasio's daughter Chiara and writing things like, "F u c k Diversity, it's not working and never will work…”
Funeral services for Liu will be held in Brooklyn this weekend, with a mix of Chinese and Western customs. The NY Times reports, "While the services last weekend for Officer Rafael Ramos, who died alongside Officer Liu in an ambush in Brooklyn on Dec. 20, were held at a church, Officer Liu will be honored at a funeral home with Buddhist monks praying. Mourners will burn ceremonial paper money and objects in front of his photograph — riches, according to Chinese custom, for the afterlife... A police ceremony with a police chaplain and eulogies will follow a Chinese ceremony led by Buddhist monks. Afterward, a procession will carry Officer Liu to Cypress Hills Cemetery, at a site chosen with the help of a feng shui expert."
Further, the Times notes, "Several family friends have said they plan to attend only the wake on Saturday, intimidated by what is sure to be a large showing by the Police Department on Sunday."
Tagged
ismaaiyl brinsley
mayor de blasio
nypd funeral
police union
rafael ramos
wenjian liu
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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