Parents’ rallying cry: We need more cops
Dozens of parents gathered outside City Hall on Sunday to demand more cops on the street and safety agents in schools amid a spate of violent incidents involving young people.
“I hear my son crying out to me every day, ‘Mom, I want to live. I want to have wings to fly. I want to taste the world. I just want to live,’ ” said Eve Hendricks, whose 17-year-old son Brandon was shot and killed while attending a birthday cookout in June 2020.
“We are living a nightmare because we do not know if our kids will return home from the school. We do not know if our kids will return home from the playground,” she said.
“We definitely need more safety officers in schools to protect our kids. We need more police officers on the streets to protect our communities, protect our streets.
“Kids need to play. They don’t need to be murdered down on the street.”
Dad Manadou Bah’s 21- and 22year-old sons were shot within five days of each other in The Bronx in July. His older son did not survive.
“I’m begging the City Council, the mayor, the governor, the community’’ for help, Bah said.
“I hope nobody goes through this nightmare,” Bah said.
The parents rallied as members of the New York School Safety Coalition. They were joined by school-safety-agents union President Gregory Floyd, a vocal opponent of Mayor de Blasio’s plan to transfer agents’ duties out of the NYPD.
The rally came on the heels of an incident Friday in which an armed man fleeing cops ran into a Brooklyn school.
Just one day earlier, a student was repeatedly stabbed in the stomach inside a Bronx school library, according to police.
Another disturbing recent incident involved the seizure of a rifle right outside a city school, organizers said.
“Our streets have become the Wild, Wild West with gun battles between different gangs,’’ the groups said in a joint statement.
“In the streets and in schools, violence has surged because of gang retaliations.
“Why can’t Bronx residents walk the streets of their borough without fear? Why are gangs patrolling Brooklyn streets and shooting innocents? Why can’t our children go to city parks safely? The politicians are doing nothing.”
Activist Tony Herbert added, “It’s time to step up. It’s time to get in the game. Because what’s happening is, it’s you that’s being affected by this craziness.”