VIDEO: NYPD Unions and Mayor Trade Verbal Jabs
Mayor Bill de Blasio delivered the latest volley Tuesday in his ongoing battle with the city's police union, dismissing their ability to speak for rank-and-file officers in the wake of their call to ban him from future New York Police Department funerals.
The relationship between de Blasio and the police unions has grown steadily more poisonous after a grand jury's decision not to indict a police officer in the chokehold death of Eric Garner. De Blasio's turn Tuesday on the nationally broadcast "The View" was dominated by discussion of Garner and the Patrolman Benevolent Association's petition to prevent him from making a mayor's traditional appearance at police officer funerals, the Associated Press reports.
"It's divisive. It's inappropriate," de Blasio said. "When an officer dies, it is a moment when the whole community has to come together in support of our police, in support of that officer."
He added: "A few union leaders do not necessarily speak for the people who protect us every day."
