Cops to KO dangerous funerals, de Blasio vows
The NYPD will aggressively shut down “dangerous” funerals where crowds of mourners risk further spreading coronavirus, Mayor de Blasio said Monday.
Hizzoner said he would speak with members of the city’s Hasidic community again after cops were forced Sunday to break up a Brooklyn funeral where dozens of mourners gathered in violation of the state’s social distancing rules.
“We’re going to be very clear with people, we just cannot tolerate at this moment in history any gatherings and unfortunately we have no choice — and the NYPD has no choice — but to immediately break them up,” de Blasio said when asked about reports of Hasidic funerals still being held in Brooklyn. “They’re dangerous.” De Blasio said enforcement of social distancing guidelines and closures has gone well and that there were only a few instances in which the NYPD issued fines.
“We’ve seen a high level of compliance with shelter-inplace and social distancing,” he said.
Still, video showed an NYPD squad car attempting to break up a large funeral crowd at 55th St. and 12th Ave. in Borough Park on Sunday.
Authorities said that the crowd dispersed when police arrived.
And last week, a video showing scores of Orthodox Jewish men carrying a wooden coffin past the corner of Avenue N and E. Ninth St. in Midwood prompted outrage on social media.
The mourners were gathered for the funeral of a 101-year-old rabbi who held services at a synagogue near the corner.
“I know people are trying to … deal with a very painful moment. I understand that it’s not easy for people to give up traditions, especially when they’re in mourning,” de Blasio said.
“But it’s just too dangerous.”
De Blasio urged anyone who witnesses large crowds at funerals — or knows that a gathering is expected to take place — to report the situation to the city by calling 311 so the police can intervene.
“You’re doing a service to other people if you know something like this is going to happen,” the mayor said.
Sunday’s funeral was for Rav Yosef Kalish, 63, an Amshinover rebbe who was hospitalized with COVID-19 last week and died Sunday morning.
Kalish, a prominent rabbi who ran a shul in Borough Park, is a descendant of the founder of a Hasidic dynasty dating to the 1800s, whose father was one of a line of disciples of the founder of Hasidism.
He is survived by his two sons and three daughters.