NYPD Executions 2014 Tag

During this past Saturday's services for fallen NYPD Officer Wenjian Liu, officers again turned their backs on New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio as he stood to speak. The silent protest did not please Mr. Mayor, and now he's speaking out against the officers who chose to pivot away from the stage and screens. Mediaite has video of De Blasio's remarks:

The mayor said he didn’t think it was appropriate, nor “the right and decent thing to do,” considering the back-turning takes away from the officers being honored and their mourning families:

“Those individuals who took certain actions this last week––or last two weeks, really––they were disrespectful to the families involved. That’s the bottom line. They were disrespectful to the families who had lost their loved one. And I can’t understand why anyone would do such a thing in a context like that.”

De Blasio added it was also disrespectful to the people of New York.

You can also watch here (embedded), via the Daily Mail:

Today Officer Wenjian Liu will be buried.  His partner, Rafael Ramos, was buried a week ago.  Both were assassinated by Ismaaiyl Brinsley, who posted online prior to the murders his anger over the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. Officers attending the funeral have been ordered not to turn their backs on Mayor Bill de Blasio, as happened at the Ramos funeral. Live Video and Twitter Coverage below.

Family also harassed as progressive students side with student leader who expressed "no sympathy" for murdered NYPD officers....

Today is the funeral for fallen New York Police Department Officer Rafael Ramos, executed along with officer Wenjian Liu. Live Video and Twitter feeds below, as well as our own select updates. [Funeral over, video feeds removed]

Family, friends and city officials remember slain NYPD Officer Rafael Ramos: http://t.co/vKk0AScwfJ pic.twitter.com/xqgxMiEcuh

— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) December 27, 2014

Applause for the Ramos family outside the church #nypd https://t.co/HZd2oBDo2b

— Shimon Prokupecz (@ShimonPro) December 27, 2014

UPDATE: You can watch the funeral here. Today, New York City will lay to rest Officer Rafael Ramos, one of the victims of last week's brutal assassination that took the lives of Ramos and his partner, Officer Wenjian Liu. More than 20,000 officers from all over the country, along with Vice President Joe Biden, are expected to attend. Yesterday's wake drew thousands of people, some of whom waited hours outside the church to honor Ramos' life and sacrifice:

Throughout the day, mourners from all corners of New York City — friends and strangers alike — came to pay their respects to “a humble man” willing to help in any capacity, as a statement posted on the Christ Tabernacle website described him. “He had an infectious smile,” said the Rev. Ralph Castillo, one of the church’s 18 pastors. “When I think of Ralph [sic], I think of his smile and his consistency. He didn’t have to be there. This is something he chose to do. He was faithful and consistent.” A group of about 15 mourners, some carrying a single white rose, had already lined up by the church’s entrance before noon, waiting to go in for the viewing, which began at 2 p.m. A giant Christmas wreath with festive ornaments decorated the front of the brick building. “Today we weep with the Ramos family, the New York Police Department and the nation as we mourn the loss of our dear brother,” Mr. Castillo said. “He was a gift to our church.”

Outside of the church, however, tensions ran high, with protesters showing support for the family while calling for the resignation of New York City Mayor Bill di Blasio. Officers who attended took measures to protect themselves from the threat of violence.

Two months ago, Pei Xia Chen was a happy newlywed. Now, she's living a nightmare as the widow of executed NYPD officer Wenjian Liu, and the focus of a media frenzy. She offered a statement to the press late yesterday evening:

The devastated widow of slain police Officer Wenjian Liu spoke Monday about her husband’s choice to lead a life of service as a shaken city continued to mourn him and Officer Rafael Ramos — two heroes executed by a madman. “His dreams were of providing for his current and growing family,” Pei Xia Chen said tearfully of the man she had just married in September. “He was an asset to the police department, using his Chinese language skills whenever and wherever it was needed,” she said in a statement.

Watch:

When I read the news of the murder of NYPD Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu by shooter Ismaaiyl Brinsley as they sat in their police car, it had an air of sickening familiarity. If you're as old as I am, and especially if you're from New York, you remember. You remember that in the early 70s a war against police began, a war in which police were gunned down by cold-blooded killers with a racial/political agenda and a convict past. The assailants were members of various black militant groups, mostly offshoots of the Black Panthers, such as the Black Liberation Army (BLA), which specialized in racially-motivated cop killings. It was almost inevitable that the furor against police officers that's been whipped up over the Brown and Garner deaths would end in some person or persons deciding that killing a cop would be just the thing. Whether Brinsley was crazy or not---and he may have been---and a lone wolf or not, even crazy people can be sparked to violence by an atmosphere of orchestrated hatred. There is also some evidence that Brinsley was not a lone wolf, however, but instead may have been a member of a group known as the Black Guerrilla Family. The Family shares similar antecedents with the BLA, including a prison genesis and a stated leftist/socialist/Marxist philosophy. Probably the most famous police officer ambush case was that of partners and Vietnam vets Gregory Foster and Rocco Laurie, which occurred in January of 1972. Witnesses and an investigation indicated that they were shot in the back by BLA members as the officers walked down the street on their beat, and then shot again multiple times with their own service revolvers as they lay dying. The murders of Foster and Laurie caused a furor because they were part of a war on police, but also because both were well-liked, young, handsome, and because they were good friends and an interracial team (Foster was black and Laurie white). There was a 1974 book and a 1975 movie about the heinous crime, and although there were suspects (some of whom have died or been killed in the ensuing years), no one has ever been tried for their murders.

The NY Post has released a new video showing the aftermath of yesterday's brutal executions of NYPD police officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu. I don't think any further introduction is necessary: Gothamist has a good rundown of what we know so far about the executioners, and what witnesses saw:

A witness told the Daily News, "There were like 75 cops here and a bunch ran toward the subway after the guy. There was a huge police presence there. Even undercovers were coming out of nowhere." ... Witness Courtney Felix described to the Post, "The cops were struggling to get out of the vehicle. They were hanging onto their wounds... One was clutching at his neck and the other was holding onto his collarbone. One cop stumbled out of the driver’s side and he leaned over to fall down. He was trying to catch himself. He was mostly on the floor and he was fading out." ...