COURIER L 18 IFE, OCT. 30-NOV. 5, 2020
Bad acts and
MAGA hats
Cop suspended after campaigning
for Trump while on duty
An offi cer repeatedly blared “Trump 2020” over his squad car’s loudspeaker while on duty
in Flatbush.
BY BEN VERDE
An NYPD offi cer was suspended
without pay after he was fi lmed shouting
his support for President Donald
Trump over the loudspeaker of his
squad car while on duty in Flatbush
on Saturday night.
Video fi lmed from a nearby apartment
on Saint Paul Place shows the
offi cer repeating the phrase “Trump
2020” over the loudspeaker and taunting
bystanders to “take a picture, take
a video, put it on Facebook, put it on
YouTube, have some fun.”
Another video shows the offi cer being
confronted by a man who asks him
to “say it again” from up close. When
the offi cer repeats the phrase, the man
calls him a “f—— fascist.”
Police offi cers are strictly forbidden
from participating in political activities
while on duty, according to the
department, and a spokesperson said
the incident is under investigation.
“The NYPD plans to come to an expedient
resolution,” the spokesperson
said.
“We are aware of this incident and
it is under investigation by our Brooklyn
South investigation unit,” the department
tweeted. “Police offi cers
must remain apolitical.”
The incident drew outrage from progressives,
who noted it should come as
no surprise considering the Police Benevolent
Association endorsed President
Trump for re-election, and the
president enjoys support from many
offi cers.
Others drew parallels to an incident
in Red Hook earlier on Saturday,
when NYPD offi cers accused community
organizers handing out personal
protective equipment at an early voting
site of electioneering, and confi scated
their equipment.
“Yesterday cops in Red Hook confi
scated a table of PPE because it was
‘electioneering’ (it was not) and now,
on the same day, a video of a cap, very
clearly, electioneering,” tweeted state
Sen. Zellnor Myrie. “We need answers.
Now.”
The department announced the offi
cer’s suspension on Sunday afternoon.
“The police offi cer who is under investigation
for using a department vehicle’s
loudspeaker for political purposes
has been suspended, effective
immediately,” tweeted the department
at 3:36 pm.
In a statement, Sergeants Benevolent
Association President Ed Mullins
blasted the suspension as unnecessary.
“The NYPD has a history of offi -
cers making political or outside the
norm social statements either on video
or other social media and ignoring
it completely. The act of suspending
this offi cer is unnecessary, way over
the top and could of been addressed
with an instruction of department
policy,” Mullins said. “I guess we are
left to wonder if the offi cer supported
Joe Biden would he have been suspended.”
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