‘OUR CITY IS HEARTBROKEN’
Thousands come to honor cop who was killed in patrol car last month
Pei Xia Chen holds her husband Wenjian Liu’s photo at his funeral Sunday in Brooklyn. New York police officer Liu and his partner were killed in their patrol car last month.
“His spirit (officer Wenjian Liu’s) will continue to look after us.” Pei Xia Chen, Liu’s wife
NEW YORK Thousands of police officers and other mourners filled the streets of Brooklyn’s Bensonhurst neighborhood under dreary skies Sunday to pay homage to a police officer shot to death while sitting in a patrol car last month.
Uniformed officers from across the nation joined family, friends and loved ones for the funeral of officer Wenjian Liu.
“All of our city is heartbroken today,” Mayor Bill de Blasio eulogized. “Detective Wenjian Liu was a good man. He walked a path of courage, a path of sacrifice, and a path of kindness. This is who he was — and he was taken from us much too soon.”
Some officers turned their backs to de Blasio’s image on the giant outdoor video screen. De Blasio has faced withering criticism from some officers for statements he made in support of nationwide protests against police brutality and racial profiling.
Police Commissioner William Bratton also spoke, lauding Liu as a hero. “For seven years he kept the streets of Brooklyn safe,” he said. “His dedication is hardly unique. It’s what cops do. ... We’re cops; we hold the line. The thin blue line.”
Liu’s wife of two months called Liu her soul mate and best friend. “His spirit will continue to look after us,” Pei Xia Chen said through tears. “We can always count on him. ... We love you.”
Liu, 32, and his patrol partner, Rafael Ramos, 40, were ambushed Dec. 20. Both were posthumously promoted to detective. Ramos’ funeral was last weekend. Liu’s funeral was delayed so relatives from China could travel to New York.
Sgt. Melissa Franks and officer Rodney Sneed of the DeSoto Police Department in South Dallas, Texas, were among hundreds of officers nationwide who took up JetBlue on its offer of free flights to the funeral.
“It’s our duty to pay our re- spects,” said Franks, who attended the funeral and Saturday’s wake.
Toronto Police Superintendent Peter Yuen was there with 15 Asian officers from the Canadian city.
“It’s not often we have a fallen comrade from our background,” he said. “We are here for his final journey.”
There were isolated protests. Retired NYPD officer John Mangan stood across from the Aievoli Funeral Home with a placard that said “God Bless the NYPD Dump DeBlasio.”
“It’s a shame there is no support at the top for the poor cops,” said Mangan, of Levittown, N.Y.
Liu’s killer, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, 28, fatally shot himself moments after his rampage. Brinsley had posted on social media that he meant to avenge the deaths of two unarmed black men, Michael Brown of Ferguson, Mo., and Eric Garner of Staten Island, N.Y., who were killed in confrontations with police.
Grand jury decisions not to indict officers in those cases sparked nationwide protests. Some NYPD officers, accusing de Blasio of failing to show support for police following those rulings, also turned their backs on him the night Liu and Ramos were shot and again at the funeral for Ramos.
The officer protests drew a rebuke from Bratton last week. He stressed that “a hero’s funeral is about grieving, not grievance.”
After Sunday’s service, hundreds of officers stood at attention as a bugler played Taps and three police helicopters flew overhead. The funeral procession was led by a motorcade of hundreds of police motorcycles from NYPD and across the USA.
The hearse, piled high with flowers, with a replica NYPD shield, moved slowly past the long line of solemn officers.