Soon after New York Police Department (NYPD) Sgt. Hugh Barry fatally shot Deborah Danner in the torso on Tuesday, Mayor Bill de Blasio and newly sworn-in police commissioner James O’Neill did something out of the ordinary. Less than 24 hours after the the 66-year-old Black woman, who suffered from schizophrenia, was killed in her Bronx apartment, both figures apologized for the shooting and admitted that the system failed her.
Ever since, the head of the sergeants union has slammed both officials for speaking up. On Saturday, he accused the city leaders of being politically-motivated, at the expense of law enforcement.
“Once again the men and women of the NYPD are being used as political pawns by anointed ‘leaders’ who care only about themselves and their careers,” Ed Mullins of the Sergeants Benevolent Association said in a statement. “Sgt. Hugh Barry became the piñata for Commissioner James O’Neill who was rumored to be a ‘cops-cop.”
Mullins added that O’Neill, who assumed his role as the leader of the city’s police in September, is “neutered” and too cowardly to defy de Blasio.
Danner was shot last week after a neighbor reported her erratic behavior to the police. Officers knew she was “emotionally disturbed” before they arrived at the scene. When they got there, Barry found her in her bedroom with scissors in hand. She eventually put the scissors down, but immediately picked up a baseball bat and started swinging at the officer. Instead of using his Taser, Barry shot her twice in the torso.
“The shooting of Deborah Danner is tragic and it is unacceptable,” de Blasio said on Wednesday. According to the mayor, Barry should have done more to de-escalate the situation before resorting to lethal force. “It should never have happened. It’s as simple as that. It should never have happened.”
O’Neill shared that sentiment. “We failed,” he said at a press conference the same day.
“Every life to me is precious,” he said. “I think that we’ve been in this business a very long time, we’ve established procedures and protocols for handling emotionally disturbed people. That’s to keep everybody safe, that’s to keep the cops safe, the community safe and the person that we’re dealing with safe.”
O’Neill and de Blasio acknowledged that Barry didn’t follow NYPD protocol for addressing people in emotional distress. But Mullins immediately came to the defense of Barry and the rest of the NYPD.
“Commissioner O’Neill was, in essence, denying due process by supplanting public opinion and putting an expectation of results in the minds of the people who will ultimately investigate the case,” he said on Wednesday. The next day, he argued that police are trained to shoot at people wielding bats, referring to them as “good targets.”
Mullins’ refusal to acknowledge wrongdoing and ardent support of police falls in line with defenses offered by police unions across the country. Time and time again, union leaders slam critics of cops who kill, rather than concede that officers’ actions are egregious and unwarranted — even when there’s video to prove it.