New York City police union leaders blasted New York Police Department Commissioner James O’Neill and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio for promptly criticizing a police officer for a Bronx woman’s death.
The union leadership described the mayor and commissioner’s reaction as a “rush to judgement” after the commissioner and mayor criticized a police sergeant who shot and killed a 66-year-old emotionally disturbed woman who was wielding a baseball bat.
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Deborah Danner, a black woman, was fatally shot in her Bronx apartment by Sgt. Hugh Barry of the NYPD earlier in October, after Barry and other officers responded to a disturbance and found the woman wielding a baseball bat. Danner was shot twice and later died.
The day after Danner’s death, O’Neill and de Blasio described the shooting as an “unacceptable failure by the NYPD.” The commissioner added Barry didn’t follow NYPD protocol when dealing with Danner, according to reports.