Monday, December 29, 2014

RACE IN AMERICA - New York LEO Deaths

"De Blasio addresses criticism by NY police union – Part 1" PBS NewsHour 12/22/2014

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Tensions are high in New York after a fatal shooting of two cops over the weekend.  The attack sparked accusations by the police union against Mayor Bill de Blasio, leaving him on the defensive.  Gwen Ifill reports.

GWEN IFILL (NewsHour):  New York City was on edge today, after the fatal shootings of a pair of police officers.  The weekend attack sparked police union accusations against the mayor and left him on the defensive.

New Yorkers stopped all day to place flowers at the site in Brooklyn where two policemen were killed on Saturday.  And the murders dominated the day for New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, including at a luncheon for the city’s Police Athletic League.

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO, New York:  It was an attack on our democracy, it was an attack on our values, it was an attack on every single New Yorker, and we have to see it as such.  I think it’s time for everyone to put aside political debates, put aside protests, put aside all of the things that we will talk about in due time.

GWEN IFILL:  The two officers, Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu, were shot as they sat in their cruiser on Saturday.  Their killer, 28-year-old Ismaaiyl Brinsley, who had a history of violence and apparent mental instability, shot his girlfriend Shaneka Thompson in Baltimore, before traveling to New York, shooting the officers, and then taking his own life.

Earlier, he posted social media references to the police killings of Eric Garner on Staten Island and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. On Instagram, he wrote:  “They take one of ours.  Let’s take two of theirs.”

Over the weekend, leaders of protests over the Garner and Brown cases, as well as their family members, condemned the killings of Ramos and Liu.



"New York police killings raise questions of cause and effect after weeks of protests – Part 2" PBS NewsHour 12/22/2014

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  The murder of two New York City police officers has ignited a volley of blame and exposes the deep rifts dividing a city in mourning.  Gwen Ifill gets two perspectives from Patrick Colligan of the New Jersey State Policemen's Benevolent Association and Mark Levine of the New York City Council.

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