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POLICE LINED THE streets of a Long Island town where thousands attended the funeral today of a New York officer allegedly shot dead by an ex-convict.
Brian Moore, 25, was the third New York officer killed in America’s biggest city in five months, against a backdrop of nationwide protests and racial tensions over police killings of unarmed black suspects.
Moore, who was in plainclothes, was shot in the head while inside his unmarked car with another police officer in the borough of Queens last Saturday. He died in hospital two days later.
Friends, family and fellow officers from across the United States and even Canada attended the televised Catholic mass at St James Church in the town of Seaford, 40 miles east of Manhattan.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, who yesterday unveiled a new budget that snubbed requests from the police department to add more officers to the force, also attended the service, as did police commissioner Bill Bratton.
“Brian, like so many of his brother and sister officers, ran always into the trouble not away from it,” preached New York police chaplain Monsignor Robert Romano.
“He is a hero along with his partner Eric and the millions of past, present, future men and women who have and will don the blue uniform and shield of the NYPD.”
Police departments across the United States have faced heightened criticism over their tactics and treatment of black suspects, following the death of a number of unarmed black men at the hands of officers.
The US Department of Justice on Friday opened an investigation into whether police in the city of Baltimore engaged in systematic misconduct and excessive force, following the eruption of violent riots.
Six police officers have been charged in connection with the arrest and death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray, who suffered a serious spinal injury while in the back of a police van last month and died a week later.
Demetrius Blackwell, 35, an ex-convict and a career criminal, was arrested shortly after the shooting and faces murder charges over Moore’s death.
He allegedly opened fire on the officers as they tried to follow him.
Patrick Lynch, president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, said Thursday it was “dangerous and shortsighted” not to hire more police officers in an effort to control neighborhood shootings.
There are currently 35,000 police officers in New York. The city has a population of more than eight million.
On December 20, New York officers Wenjian Liu, 32, and Rafael Ramos, 40, were shot dead as they sat in their patrol car by a black gunman claiming to be avenging the deaths of African-Americans at the hands of police.
- © AFP 2015.
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I wonder if someone did take him out 30 years ago, would Zimbabwe be the basket case he turned it into, or would some other “leader”, equally malingnant have just taken his place.
It’s tempting to write Africa off, but these things are not inevitable. The neighbours in Botswana were a landlocked, diamond rich former colony. Not an obvious candidate for success. And yet they were, partly because of Seretse Khama’s leadership, but also because people kept voting for him.
Unfortunately, for every relative success story there are 50 failed states. Nation building is hard and requires guts, enterprise, selflessness and vision. Mugabe wasn’t even asked to nation build. He was handed a fully functioning, very rich and successful country and managed to level it in less than a generation. That takes mean spiritness, stupidity, and the most crass selfishness and myopic vision, which, unfortunately, seems to be the calibre of most African leaders. Take and destroy is what they do and in the meantime, the west continues to do what the west does best. Assuage our feelings of western guilt by feeding, clothing and vaccinating the Africans left behind by their very own “leaders”.
We can write much of Africa off if the Chinese economy falters, And also, we can take Australia with it.
Problem with africa is its full of africans
“Unfortunate event”
In who’s eyes ????
Funny that at Mandela’s memorial when the camera would go to different world leaders the crowd would cheer or boo depending on who it was on. Mugabe got a massive cheer and Bush Jnr got a massive boo. Ya no your screwed when Mugabe gets a bigger cheer than ya!
It was an ANC crowd at the funeral & Mugabe was a big supporter if the ANC during apartheid times so I’d be sure that’s why he was cheered rather than for his recent policies.
That says a lot more about the crowd than it does about Bush Jr.
Whatever you can accuse Bush Jr. of, laying waste to his country, starving his people, killing the productive farmers and having an ugly greedy, mean wife isnt among them. An ANC crowd can turn into a vicious mob at the turn of a hair. Being rational abd discerning is not their thing.
Hurricane Katrina anyone? ;)
Sadly, probably the latter.
Problem with Africa is the tribal government system, and the mentality of it’s people.
@coom
Same could be said for a lot of countries..including ours!
Christina who wrote that paper? Dept of the Taoiseach?
While it is true that Robert Mugabe has a few character flaws, it cannot be denied that he is an active leader who stands up for his people. Much better than the shower we have running this country, he is. You can bet Robert Mugabe would have burned the bondholders and sent the IMF home with a flea in their ear.
Pity he didn’t have a fatal “accident” here.
Proably after totruring them first…Thing is we can elect another incompetant shower to govern us.Mugabe is there forever like a big black blood sucking tick on Zimbabwae.But then thats what happens if you let Marxist gun waving loons loose on a perfectly functioning and producing ,albeit not without is fault state.Turn it into a dictatorship that makes the previous oppression by whomever look like paradise.
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