Al Sharpton's relentless bashing of law enforcement is ultimately responsible for the murders of two New York City police officers by a cop-hating madman, retired NYPD Detective Harry Houck says.
"Sharpton … injected into his argument against the police, information that was false," Houck said Monday on "The Steve Malzberg Show" on
Newsmax TV. "He's also somehow responsible for the death of these two officers. All his rhetoric was predicated on lies."
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Houck's charge came two days after an armed Baltimore man with a long criminal record walked up to a police car in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn and shot dead two officers.
Ismaaiyl Brinsely, who then killed himself, suggested on social media that he was avenging the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown at the hands of cops.
Sharpton, a civil-rights leader and MSNBC host, has been critical of a New York grand jury's decision not to indict a white officer who placed a choke hold on Garner, a black man who was illegally selling cigarettes — killing him.
"Whether or not Sharpton hoped something like that happened, I don't know, I can't read that man's mind, but the fact is two officers have been executed as a result of his rhetoric …" Houck said.
"This is his routine. Now, he's got two more bodies based on his rhetoric. The black community has got to learn.
"I know for a fact that some of my clients who are black … hate Sharpton and hate when he comes into the neighborhood, but he does have a lot of followers that believe anything he says. Has Sharpton ever been right on anything?"
Sharpton says he is now receiving death threats since Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu were murdered in cold blood by Brinsely, who committed suicide as cops closed in on him on a subway platform.
At the Harlem headquarters of his National Action Network, Sharpton added: "This is a pursuit of justice to make the system work fairly for everyone. This is not about taking things into our own hands. That doesn’t solve the problem of police misconduct."
But Houck said law enforcement must now keep an eagle eye out for copycat killers.
"Copycats are always a big problem. Officers are probably very much on edge now and if anybody approaches them with their hands in their pocket, they're going to be a little scared. You don't know if somebody is going to walk up to you and execute you," he said.
"I know there's been a lot of talk out there about killing police officers, getting back for [Eric] Gardner, getting back for [Michael Brown] in Ferguson, Missouri.
"So if Sharpton was the alleged leader he says he is with the black community, why isn't he coming out and saying 'we don't want any police officers shot?' "
Houck accused Sharpton of stoking the flames of racial unrest in Ferguson after Brown, an unarmed black teen, was fatally shot by white Police Officer Darren Wilson last summer — sparking riots, arson and looting.
"He went into Ferguson and he caused all the problems there and as soon as the riots started he backed off …" Houck said.
"He's a coward and if he's such a smart man and if he's so behind the black community, why didn't he walk out into the streets the nights of the riots and tell people to calm down?"
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