Rudy Giuliani lashed out at New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio after videos surfaced of people throwing water and objects at NYPD officers, with Giuliani predicting that the situation “will only get worse until these left-wing idiots are defeated.”
De Blasio has condemned as “completely unacceptable” the actions captured in several videos showing people in Harlem and Brooklyn targeting uniformed officers by dumping and splashing water on them and, in one case, throwing a plastic bucket at an officer’s head.
“We won’t tolerate this kind of disrespect,” de Blasio added. “NYPD is investigating.”
Still, Giuliani believes de Blasio and his policies are to blame.
“This disrespect for the uniform in NYC is result of a Democrat-Progressive (Retrogressive)-Socialist Mayor,” Giuliani wrote on Twitter, adding, “This is what happens with knee-jerk disrespect for police.”
‘Torrent of Bad Policies’
New York City Police Benevolent Association (PBA) President Patrick J. Lynch also had words of rebuke for the city’s leadership.“It’s not the fault of these police officers,“ Lynch said. ”It’s the end result of the torrent of bad policies and anti-police rhetoric that has been streaming out of City Hall and Albany for years now.”
“We are approaching the point of no return,” Lynch warned. “Disorder controls the streets, and our elected leaders refuse to allow us to take them back. As police officers, we need to draw a line.”
The union president said officers cannot be expected to sit idly by as they face physical attacks.
‘Reprehensible’
NYPD Chief Terence Monahan also denounced the attacks on the officers, saying, “The videos of cops being doused with water and having objects hurled at them as they made an arrest in Harlem is reprehensible.”Two incidents recently captured on video show four on-duty officers breaking up unruly gatherings around open fire hydrants during a recent heatwave. Police are seen in the footage being soaked themselves as onlookers jeer.
In one of the videos, someone could be seen throwing a bucket at an officer in the middle of an arrest, striking him in the head.
Other videos show two officers getting a drenching as they walk down a Brooklyn street.
“Today it’s a bucket of water,“ a department supervisor told the Post. ”Tomorrow it could be a bucket of cement.”
NYPD Chief of Patrol Rodney Harrison said there would be consequences for targeting officers, saying that, “Although the police department is working on building relationships with the community, there is a line that cannot be crossed.”
“Police officers have the difficult job of protecting their communities and will not be disrespected while doing so,” he added.
‘Point of No Return’
The NYPD has circulated a memo throughout the department, confirming civilians could face charges of harassment, disorderly conduct, or other crimes if they splash water on officers.Chief Monahan revealed the department wants to make arrests in both cases. He described one case as a potential assault on an officer doing his duty, while the other was a failure of officers to respond to provocation.
“[In Brooklyn] someone thought it was all right and take a bucket of water and toss it over a cop’s head,” Monahan said according to AP. “That’s not all right—any cop who thinks that’s all right, that they can walk away from something like that, maybe should consider whether or not that this is the profession for them.”
Monahan on Wednesday shared images of the individuals wanted for assault, writing, “Every New Yorker should be disgusted by the suspects’ illegal behavior.”
The chief asked the public for anyone with information on the whereabouts of the suspects to contact the authorities.
