For the second time in just over a week, a river of pressed blue uniforms filled the streets of a New York City neighborhood as law enforcement officers from across the US paid respects to a slain colleague on Sunday. And for the second time, hundreds of those officers made a silent show of protest against New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Almost as soon as De Blasio finished adjusting the microphone to his tall frame and began his eulogy for slain New York Police Department (NYPD) officer Wenjian Liu (劉文健), the protesting officers on the streets outside the funeral parlor, following the ceremony on screens and over loudspeakers, pivoted away from the building.
The action, which followed a similar display at the funeral of NYPD officer Rafael Ramos, Liu’s partner, on Dec. 27 last year, represented more than a simple repetition. Coming after a week in which the mayor sat down with police union leaders to try to defuse tensions; in which statistics reflected a de facto work slowdown by officers across the city; and in which the police commissioner explicitly asked officers not to turn their backs at the ceremony, it showed a willingness by the rank and file to disregard the leadership.
Photo: Reuters
Liu, 32, and Ramos, 40, were shot in their parked patrol car in Brooklyn on Dec. 20 by a man who reportedly had announced on social media his intention to kill police officers, and who police said killed himself in a nearby subway station shortly after the shooting.
Liu’s funeral was delayed so some relatives could travel from China, and the service — held at Aievoli Funeral Home on 65th Street in Brooklyn — was an amalgam of traditions. The formal police coffin ceremony, with its choreography of bagpipes and motorcycles, pallbearers and a helicopter flyover, followed a private Chinese ceremony with incense and with offerings made below a photograph of Liu.
In addition to De Blasio, FBI director James Comey spoke during the ceremony, as did Liu’s widow, Pei Xia Chen (陳佩霞), and father, Wei Tang Liu.
Photo: Reuters
So did New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton, who, along with paying tribute to Liu, sought to soothe and find common ground with his officers.
“A much larger part of this city, of this country, a much larger part than you think, is proud of you,” Bratton said.
Appearing to allude to a reported sharp downturn in arrests and tickets since the shootings, he added: “There are people who need us. We will not abandon them. To do so would be to dishonor the memories of Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos.”
During his eulogy, Liu’s father, speaking in Cantonese through an interpreter, praised his son for loyalty to the family, a dedication in keeping with Confucian practice, describing Liu as “a filial piety son.”
Liu had begun paying the mortgage on his parents’ home and when he was married just a couple of months ago, his parents came along on the honeymoon.
“He called me every day before he finished work to assure me that he is safe, and to tell me: ‘Dad, I’m coming home today. You can stop worrying now,” his father said.
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