Police turn their backs on mayor at funeral of slain colleague

Thousands of New York police officers turned their backs yesterday as they watched mayor Bill de Blasio eulogize an officer shot dead with his partner, repeating a stinging display of scorn for the mayor despite entreaties from the police commissioner not to do so.

The show of disrespect came outside the funeral home where Officer Wenjian Liu was remembered as an incarnation of the American dream: A man who had immigrated at age 12 and devoted himself to helping others in his adopted country.

The gesture, among officers watching the mayor’s speech on a screen, added to tensions between the mayor and rank-and-file police even as he sought to smooth them.

“As we start a new year, a year we’re entering with hearts that are doubly heavy” from the loss of Officer Liu and his partner, Officer Rafael Ramos, said de Blasio, “let us rededicate ourselves to those great New York traditions of mutual understanding and living in harmony. Let us move forward by strengthening the bonds that unite us, and let us work together to attain peace.”

Police convened from around the country to mourn Mr Liu, who was killed on December 20.

As Mr Liu’s family arrived for his funeral, police commissioner William Bratton tweeted: “We will never forget his sacrifice.”

The shooter, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, killed himself shortly after the brazen ambush on a Brooklyn street.

Investigators say Brinsley was an emotionally disturbed loner who had made references online to the killings this summer of unarmed black men at the hands of white police officers, vowing to put “wings on pigs.”

The deaths strained an already tense relationship between city police unions and de Blasio, who union leaders have said contributed to an environment that allowed the killings, by supporting protests following the deaths of Eric Garner on Staten Island and Michael Brown in Missouri.

The head of the rank-and-file police union, which is negotiating a contract with the city, turned his back on the mayor at a hospital on the day of the killings.

The act was imitated by hundreds of officers standing outside Ramos’ funeral, who turned their backs toward a giant TV screen as de Blasio’s remarks were being broadcast.