By: Ezra Ashkenazi
Last weekend a couple of female police officers were just standing and keeping to themselves when a crowd of people starting chasing them and wetting them with water as they ran away humiliated. A couple of days ago, in the same spot as the water fiasco, they was a fatal shooting at a block party. According to the Sergeants Benevolent Association, these incidents are proof that New York City, and specifically Brooklyn, is “slowly crumbling.” According to a New York Post article, a “scathing” email was sent by the SBA president Ed Mullins to the NYPD commissioner, James O’Neill.
He blamed O’Neill for the incident and even called for his removal from commissioner. Mullins wrote in his article that was sent out to multiple union members, “None of it is funny, 12 people were shot, someone is dead, and cops were hit with water. NYC is slowly crumbling. Don’t say you weren’t warned. Restore the NYPD – REMOVE O’NEILL!” The email also included a sergeants account of what happened at the scene of a shooting at the annual “Old Timers Day Party.” He said that the area was, “Nothing short of a war zone,” and that hundreds of people refused to listen to the police officers that were on the scene. The sergeant explained that the scene was horrific, although Mayor deBlasio described the day as a “Peaceful neighborhood event,” in one of his recent tweets.
According to the sergeant, this year’s event at the part was “one of the craziest incidents” with approximately 40 people arrested for disorderly conduct and obstruction. There was a crowd of about 500 people who were hanging out after the shooting had occurred. They were drinking alcohol and smoking weed and were all riled up. According to the email, “People were yelling vulgar and vile things at all the Cops, such as we wish you would die and a litany of other horrific terms,” According to a Post article, there is a rumor that officers were ordered not to take action at the chaotic scene because Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez wasn’t on the scene, he was at the 73rd precinct.
The NYPD has addressed this account and remarked that these rumors were “silly and false.” According to the NYPD everything was under control, and that “Assistant Chief Jeffrey Maddrey, Commanding Officer of Patrol Borough Brooklyn North was on scene, making all operational decisions and directing officers to maintain order and respond to the incident.” At the end of the day, the argument is whether to blame the police for being irresponsible, or to blame the people for acting unlawfully.
