Politics & Government
Mayor Responds To Maskless Greenwich Village Cop Video
"There will be discipline," de Blasio said when asked about two maskless cops pushing a man out of a Greenwich Village train station.
GREENWICH VILLAGE, NY — A video made the rounds on social media Tuesday of two maskless police officers pushing a masked man out of the Greenwich Village R/W train station at West 8th Street after he asked them why they weren't wearing face coverings.
#NYC #NYPD harassing this subway rider for having the nerve to ask them to put on masks! #notabovethelaw@NYCMayor pic.twitter.com/iEK8qKh0MF
— ekki spyrja mig að því (@toriahall) October 19, 2021
Mayor Bill de Blasio responded to the video Wednesday morning during his daily press conference.
"I was troubled by that video. I didn't like what I saw one bit," de Blasio said. "I did not see everything, except for the clip at the time when the person is being removed, but I saw the police officers not wearing their masks in the subway — that's evident — that's unacceptable."
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"We've given this instruction a thousand times and if you're going to be in law enforcement, you actually have to participate in following the law," he added. "There is an investigation underway. I expect there will be discipline in that case because it's obvious that they were not wearing masks."
Andrew Gilbert, the man pushed out of the train station in the video, gave a retelling of events to amNewYork.
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“He just walked into me, grabbed me and pushed me,” Gilbert told amNewYork. “He grabbed me by the shirt and pushed me over to the emergency exit and slammed me through it, and was yelling at me how, ‘If you’re not going to ride the train you can get out.'”
The same day de Blasio made comments about NYPD officers needing to wear masks in the subway, he also announced that all NYC municipal workers must get a coronavirus vaccine by Oct. 29, or else be placed on unpaid leave.
This includes police officers and firefighters, who both have vaccination rates of under 70 percent, according to the mayor's office.
Workers who get their shots at city-run vaccination sites will get a $500 bonus until the mandate takes effect on Oct. 29 at 5 p.m.
Patch reporter Matt Troutman contributed to this article.
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