7 C
New York
Friday, March 29, 2024

NYPD Commissioner calls Rep. Maxine Waters ‘reckless,’ says cops are being targeted

 

The city’s top cop has choice words for Rep. Maxine Waters for urging protesters to “get confrontational” with police — but you won’t hear them.

“I think it’s incredibly reckless. I even have stronger feelings but I’ll keep them to myself,” Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said Tuesday.

“We just had an officer having a Molotov cocktail at them last week,” Shea said on Fox 5′s ″Good Day NY.” “To have an elected official in this country to be advocating for getting tougher on cops at this time is beyond me,” he said. “I cannot repeat what I think.”

During a trip to Brooklyn Center , Minn. on Saturday, Rep. Waters (D-Calif) called for demonstrators to stay on the streets, “get more active” and “get more confrontational” with cops if they aren’t happy with the guilty verdict in the George Floyd murder trial.

 

 

 

Ex-Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin was found guilty Tuesday of murdering Floyd, whose death was caught on camera while Chauvin had his knee on Floyd’s neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds last year.

Shea urged community leaders and elected officials to advocate for “no violence or destruction of property” should protests erupt.

“The key points here are just calm and that we are here to support protests,” Shea said. “That’s really what this is about.”

“We feel we are much better prepared this time around. We all remember what happened last May and we don’t want a repeat of that on any level,” Shea said.

The NYPD was widely criticized for how it handled people who flooded the street to protest Floyd’s death.

The department is being sued by Attorney General Letitia James for suppressing “overwhelmingly peaceful” protests.

Demonstrators march on 34th St. near the Empire State Building to protest a Staten Island grand jury's decision not to indict the NYPD officer involved in the chokehold death of Eric Garner on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2014.

Shea believes cops in the city — as well as across the country — are being targeted as the Chauvin trial plays out.

“There’s no doubt,” Shea said. “You saw spray paint in the city last week (that read) ‘Kill Cops.’”

Those targeting cops are “a really tiny, tiny element,” Shea said.

“It’s important for all people to speak up when they see (graffiti) like that,” he said. “We know that New Yorkers love their police.”

Demonstrators march from Washington Square Park during the Millions March protest on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014 in New York.

Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark wants to make sure Bronxites have a positive way to channel their energy after the Chauvin verdict.

The Claremont Neighborhood Center on E. 169th St. in Claremont Village will offer a safe space to community members for 24 hours and a prayer vigil will be held at Memorial Peace Plaza on Pelham Parkway at 7 p.m. An NYPD hosted “Power Hour” vigil will be held from 6 to 7 p.m. at NYCHA Edenwald Houses Community Center.

Clark’s office has also set up hotline for people who want to vent about the verdict, that number is 718-590-2115.

“I want people to be able to protest peacefully,” DA Clark said. “People should be able to exercise their constitutional right in peace and in safety. We want civil protests.

“We will not stand for any vandalism or violence in our communities because when we do that who are we hurting? We are hurting ourselves.”

 

Source (Ny Daily news)

- Advertisement -

More articles