New York City’s highest-ranking uniformed police officer reportedly blew up at a meeting of NYPD brass on Thursday, saying “we can’t be afraid of doing what we do.”
Chief of Department Terence Monahan went off after a deputy told him officers were worried about a new law that makes it a crime to kneel on a suspect’s chest or back during an arrest, according to the New York Post, which said it obtained a video of the blowup.
“They’re concerned about [taking] a bag of crack off the right person, the right dealer, and their knee accidentally — unintentionally — going on their back,” said Deputy Chief Brian McGee, commanding officer of the Manhattan North detective bureau.
Monahan, who was banged up by an anti-cop protester last week, jumped in, saying: “You know what? I wasn’t afraid when I was fighting the guy on the Brooklyn Bridge. We can’t be afraid.”
“Do you know what happens… what happens to afraid cops is, they end up dead. And that’s what happens,” Monahan said, the New York Post reported.
“That’s why there are so many guns out there. We can’t be afraid. You’ve got every [district attorney] come out and say they’re not gonna charge that. We can’t be afraid of doing what we do. We can’t walk away.”
Monahan has been critical of a new law that also bars chokeholds and any other move that “restricts the flow of air or blood” or “compresses the diaphragm.”
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