Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clark, who is in New York City to attend services for slain police officer Wenjian Liu this weekend, said he completely stands behind officers' decision last week to turn their backs on Mayor Bill de Blasio outside the funeral of Rafael Ramos, who was killed along with Liu.
Clark told Fox News Channel's Jeanine Pirro that he "unequivocally" believes officers had the right to turn their back on de Blasio or otherwise not look at him.
NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton sent out a memo to ask that police not repeat their behavior on Sunday, when Liu is laid to rest.
"I support what they did," said Clark. "Look, the mayor threw them under the bus to score some cheap political points. He's an opportunist. He scored political capital out of doing that with certain segments of New York."
Police officers also have the right to express themselves, said Clark, and that right does not end when they put on a badge.
Clark said he attended Liu's wake Saturday, which he described as the "toughest thing any law enforcement executive" has to do.
He said Liu's mother, who is Chinese, hugged him.
"She doesn't know where Milwaukee is, but she saw the uniform and she knows the fraternity this is," Clark said. "Every law enforcement officer in America dies a little bit along with them."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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