Despite being warned by the NYPD police commissioner not to do it, thousands officers turned their backs to NY Mayor Bill DeBlasio as he delivered a eulogy for Officer Wenjian Liu, Sunday morning, CNN reported: NY Mayor de Blasio Emotional Tribute Speech at Officer Wenjian Liu’s Funeral, Some Backs Still Turn:
Via ABC News:
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — Mayor Bill de Blasio has given a solemn eulogy at an officer’s funeral as thousands of police watching the service from outside turned their backs in a sign of disrespect toward the city’s leader.
The officers’ actions at Wenjian Liu‘s funeral Sunday came after Police Commissioner Bill Bratton sent a memo to all commands urging respect, declaring “a hero’s funeral is about grieving, not grievance.”
It is beyond crystal clear now that De Blasio, (and by extension Holder and Obama) have a serious problem on their hands with the nation’s law enforcement officers.
As Weasel Zippers reported earlier this morning, NYPD had been plotting to do an “about face” at Liu’s funeral.
In the weeks since Liu and partner Rafael Ramos, 40, were ambushed Dec. 20 on a Bedford-Stuyvesant street, angry officers have displayed outrage to their perceived, anti-cop mayor by literally turning their backs on him as he passed them in a hospital hallway and as he spoke at Ramos’ funeral last Saturday.
And while no officers turned their backs on the mayor at Liu’s wake Saturday, cops were plotting online to do so at the slain officer’s funeral Sunday, despite an NYPD-wide directive by Bratton that “a hero’s funeral is about grieving, not grievance.”
“There will be someone signaling an ‘ABOUT FACE’ via bullhorn,” one poster who used the handle “BrutalObserver” wrote on Thee Rant blog. “If and when you hear this loud ABOUT FACE everyone… and I mean everyone is expected to face away from the funeral home.”
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Bratton has said he won’t punish officers who again disrespect de Blasio, but has said such behavior is “inappropriate.”
SEE ALSO:
Devastating. Don’t click without a box of tissues nearby.
Incidentally, Lefties on Twitter have been claiming that Liu’s widow requested that the police not turn their backs on de Blasio during her husband’s funeral. So far I haven’t been able to track that down that story. Every news account of the funeral mentions the police commissioner’s request – but none say anything about her making the request.
She did say to the thousands of officers who offered condolences & support, “I thank you. My extended family, my family in blue.”