NYPD Reserved VIP Areas For 4th Of July Fireworks: Report

NEW YORK CITY — Would-be fireworks spectators were turned away from public viewing spaces by NYPD officers whose friends and family snagged front row spots, according to a report and New Yorkers who shared their stories on social media.

NYPD spokesperson John Miller confirmed to Gothamist the "informal practice" allows officers — tasked with protecting the more than a million New Yorkers who arrive annually at the Macy's 4th of July Fireworks — to spend time with family and friends even while working on a national holiday.

“[Officers] are regularly called upon to make sacrifices for the city," Miller reportedly explained. "Their spouses miss major holidays because they are working."

But New Yorkers told Gothamist — and Twitter — that the practice was taken too far this year.

Twitter user Steven Bodzin shared photos of a near-empty field in Long Island City and, via Tweet, told Queens City Councilmember Shekar Krishnan he was told he needed to know city workers to get in.

Bodzin also said he saw New Yorkers stuck in the crowd behind portable toilets without a view.

"Lots of kids were crying as they couldn't see anything through the mass of bodies and there was no way to move," Bodzin wrote. "It was frustrating to then see an acre of open lawn taken over by NYPD for "VIP"s."

Another reader messaged Gothamist directly, after the story went live, to share his view from a fishing boat charter of an NYPD boat "full of spectators."

Photos posted to Instagram — since deleted — showed the Police Benevolent Association was passing out food and drinks to members in an area of Manhattan's Waterside Plaza that was closed off to the public, according to Gothamist.

A union spokesperson deferred comment to the NYPD and Macy's did not respond to Gothamist’s inquiries about the NYPD-only events.

Brooklyn City Councilmember Lincoln Restler, who represents the part of Williamsburg that includes Domino Park, where one of the private events took place, accused the department of treating the coveted park space as a perk for working on the Fourth of July holiday, Gothamist reported.

“It’s totally unacceptable,” said Restler. “The fireworks are for the people.”

Read the Gothamist report here.