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Title: Second NYPD officer honored at funeral; officers again turn backs on de Blasio
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URL Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/ ... nypd-officer-killed-in-ambush/
Published: Jan 4, 2015
Author: By Peter Holley
Post Date: 2015-01-04 21:38:49 by out damned spot
Keywords: NYPD, DeBlasio, turn backs
Views: 410
Police, public officials and mourners from across the country gathered Sunday to honor a detective killed last month in an act of violence that has roiled New York City, with a large number of officers again making their frustrations with the city’s mayor apparent by turning their backs on him as he paid tribute to the slain officer. Defying a request from Police Commissioner William Bratton, the strident display of protest began as Mayor Bill de Blasio took the podium at the Aievoli Funeral Home in Brooklyn to eulogize Detective Wenjian Liu, reinforcing entrenched feelings of hostility that have gripped the department in the weeks since Liu and Detective Rafael Ramos were fatally shot without warning on a Brooklyn street. Tens of thousands of mourners poured into the funeral for slain New York City police officer Wenjian Liu who was shot dead last month in an ambush attack. (Reuters) In highly controversial remarks, union leaders have criticized the mayor for expressing support for demonstrations against police brutality and accused him of fostering an environment that encourages attacks on police officers. NYPD officers turned their backs as New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio spoke at the funeral of slain officer Wenjian Liu Sunday in Brooklyn. (AP) In a memo read at roll calls Friday and Saturday, Bratton urged officers to avoid making political statements during Liu’s funeral. “A hero’s funeral is about grieving, not grievance,” the memo said. “I issue no mandates, and I make no threats of discipline, but I remind you that when you don the uniform of this department, you are bound by the tradition, honor and decency that go with it.” A day after Liu and Ramos were killed, New York police union leader Patrick Lynch said de Blasio “had blood on his hands.” Patrick Yoes, a national secretary with the 328,000-member Fraternal Order of Police, told the Associated Press he supported Lynch’s stance toward the mayor. “Across this country, we seem to be under attack in the law enforcement profession, and the message to take away from this is: We are public servants. We are not public enemies,” Yoes said. On Saturday, de Blasio and Bratton were saluted by officers as they arrived at Liu’s wake. The show of respect was a markedly different reception than the one the mayor received a week earlier, when some officers turned their backs on him in protest while he spoke at Ramos’s funeral. Today, de Blasio was received a respectful reception among police officials inside the funeral home, but the reaction outside was mixed, according to the Associated Press. The mayor called Liu a “brave and skilled detective” but pointed out that so many of his friends and colleagues will remember him for his kindness. De Blasio recounted in detail a story about Liu responding to a call for an aging Vietnam veteran who had fallen and needed help getting up. Instead of leaving the man, de Blasio said, Liu spent hours talking to the veteran before helping the man to bed and wrapping him in blankets. “Detective Liu was the sort of officer who when he saw someone on the street lost, he’d go over to them to ask them if they were hungry,” the mayor said. “He’d literally go over to them and buy them dinner at McDonald’s and give them a ride home.” Bratton spoke next, discussing Liu’s decision to join the police force after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and his enduring devotion to family. The police commissioner said Liu and Ramos were “murdered for their color, slain because they were blue.” “For seven years, he sought out the suffering, the disturbed, the injured and tried to bring them comfort,” he said. “At the end of every tour,” Bratton later added, “he would call his father to snip~ New York City Police Commissioner Bill Bratton spoke at the funeral for NYPD officer Wenjian Liu in Brooklyn Sunday. (AP) The morning began with thousands of officers in varying shades of blue walking down 65th Street toward the funeral home. Along the way, they passed groups of solemn-looking supporters holding signs and snapping photos from the sidewalk. A black stripe could be seen over many badge numbers, a striking sign of the law enforcement community’s collective grief. Many officers, including Ryan Andersen, 39, of Berkeley, Calif., arrived from departments across the country to pledge their support for Liu and the NYPD. “This isn’t the type of killing that we can accept,” Andersen said. “We understand it’s part of the job. But to have an officer killed sitting there in their car and talking to his partner, that’s difficult to accept.” “We felt it was important for us to be here for the officers of the NYPD and the city to show our support,” he added. snip~ Along 65th Street, as the officers flowed by, neighbors watched the procession from their windows and doors. The funeral drew many Asian Americans, who watched from behind police barricades with signs of support for Liu and the police department. “They protect us,” said Sunny Mui, President of the Brooklyn Chinese-American Business Association, holding a sign that memorialized Liu as “in our hearts forever.” “We honor Mr. Liu,” he said, noting that he was from Taishan, the same town in China as the fallen officer. It is the second straight day of mourning for the 32-year-old officer. At Liu’s wake Saturday, more than 1,000 officers from across the country descended upon the funeral home, braving wet weather and cold temperatures in lines that stretched for blocks and lasted for hours, according to news reports. snip~ Among the attendees was Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who attended the wake two days after the death of his father — former New York governor Mario Cuomo. “This is really a tragic story,” Cuomo (D) said, referring to Liu’s killing, according to NBC New York. “She’s now a widow,” he said, in a reference to the detective’s wife. “This is really pointless. They did nothing wrong. It wasn’t about them. It was pure and random hatred.” At the wake, Liu’s uniformed body was laid out in an open casket, with his NYPD badge and hat, according to the New York Daily News. Nearby, the paper reported, amid candles and burning incense, a white banner offered a message in Chinese: “His bravery is still with us.” snip~ Liu, a seven-year veteran of the police force, was in a patrol car with his partner, Ramos, in Bedford-Stuyvesant when they were shot. The gunman — 28- year-old Ismaaiyl Brinsley, an emotionally disturbed man with a long history of violence — had vowed to kill police as revenge for recent killings of unarmed black men by white police officers in Missouri and New York. Liu, who recently married, moved to New York from China with his family in 1994. He is thought to be the first Chinese American officer killed in the line of duty in New York. Ramos, a 40-year-old husband and father, was entering his second year as an officer and planned to become a chaplain. Both men were posthumously promoted to detective first grade. The funeral began at 11 a.m. Eastern time and included a Chinese ceremony led by Buddhist monks, as well as a traditional police funeral led by a chaplain, according to the Associated Press. Funeral arrangements were postponed so members of Liu’s family in China could acquire the necessary documentation to make the overseas trip, according to the New York Times. Morgan Johnston, a spokesman for JetBlue, said the airline flew 1,146 officers to New York for Liu’s funeral. Johnston said JetBlue worked with a partner airline to bring Liu’s family from China. FBI Director James B. Comey attended the funeral at the behest of President Obama. Vice President Biden attended Ramos’s funeral Dec. 27. After taking the stage, Comey said 115 police officers across the country have been killed in the past year. “I do not know why there is so much evil and heartache in our world,” he said. That heartache was on full display as Liu’s weeping wife, Pei Xia Chen, took the stage to remember the man she referred to as her “soulmate” and her “best friend.” She said he was a fearless, hard-working officer who took pride in being part of the NYPD and working with the city’s Chinese community. “Although he worked often, he would always make sure to take time for me — his number one fan — his family and his friends. He was always there when someone needed something.”
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