Hundreds of police officers from across the country streamed into the wake of a slain New York City officer Saturday and were joined by the city's top officials and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who said his recently deceased father would have wanted him to be there.
Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner William Bratton drew salutes from some officers as they arrived at the wake of the second NYPD officer killed in the Dec. 20 ambush shooting.
The gesture of respect during the calling hours for officer Wenjian Liu contrasted with the back-turning insults hundreds of officers displayed last week toward video screens showing the mayor speaking at the funeral of Liu's police partner, Rafael Ramos. It also came after Bratton urged rank-and-file officers to refrain from making political statements at Liu's wake and funeral.
"A hero's funeral is about grieving, not grievance," Bratton said in a memo read at roll calls Friday and Saturday. "I issue no mandates, and I make no threats of discipline, but I remind you that when you don the uniform of this department, you are bound by the tradition, honor and decency that go with it."
Cuomo attended the wake two days after the death of his father, former Gov. Mario Cuomo.
"This is really a tragic story", he said, noting that Liu and his wife were newlyweds.
"She's now a widow," he said. "This is really pointless. They did nothing wrong. It wasn't about them. It was pure and random hatred."
Liu and Ramos were ambushed in their patrol car on a Brooklyn street by Ismaaiyl Brinsley. Brinsley had made references online to the killings of unarmed black men at the hands of white police officers, vowing to put "wings on pigs."
Investigators say Brinsley was an emotionally disturbed loner who started off his rampage by shooting and wounding an ex-girlfriend in Baltimore. He later killed himself.
The police killings ramped up emotions in the already-tense national debate over police conduct. Since Ramos and Liu were killed, police in New York have investigated at least 70 threats made against officers, and more than a dozen people have been arrested.
Police union officials, who are negotiating a contract with the city, had accused de Blasio of helping foster an anti-police atmosphere by supporting demonstrations following the chokehold death of an unarmed black man on Staten Island who resisted arrest.
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The back-turning at Ramos' funeral mimicked what some police union officials did outside a hospital when the officers were killed two weeks ago.
Liu's funeral is scheduled for Sunday with a Chinese ceremony led by Buddhist monks to be followed by a traditional police ceremony with eulogies led by a chaplain. Burial was to follow at Cypress Hills Cemetery.
The 32-year-old officer, whose family emigrated from China when he was 12 years old, had been on the police force for seven years, after serving previously in the police auxiliary. He moved this year to a home in Brooklyn's Gravesend section and got married just a few months ago.
Liu attended Lafayette High School, then Kingsboro Community College and the College of Staten Island.
"He was looking forward to having his own family," his family said in a written statement after his death. "Wenjian was proud to be a New York City officer."
Both Liu and Ramos were posthumously promoted to detective. The city also plans to honor them by naming streets near their homes for them, the mayor and Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito have announced.
Liu's funeral arrangements were delayed so relatives from China could travel to New York.
Uniformed officers from across the country were among the first in line Saturday at Liu's wake. About 20 officers from the Los Angeles Police Department traveled to Brooklyn to pay their respects to the fallen policeman.
"When it happens here, it happens to us," LAPD Officer Hannu Tarjamo said. "It doesn't matter if it happens here, or in LA, or in Louisiana. It's an act of savagery that should be condemned by society."
Luda Kaplan, 67, of Brooklyn, carried a handmade sign with a heart and "NYPD" on it as she stood across the street from the Ralph Aievoli & Son Funeral Home in Dyker Heights. She said her son-in-law was an NYPD officer for 20 years.
"When he left every morning at 4:30 a.m., we didn't know if he would come home," she said.
The NYPD announced related street closures this weekend: 65th Street between 12th and 14th avenues was set to be closed from noon through 10 p.m. Saturday, with no parking there and on 13th Avenue between 64th and 68th streets.
On Sunday, 65th Street between 11th and 18th avenues were to be closed to all vehicles from 7 a.m. through 2 p.m. There was to be no parking on 13th Avenue between 64th Street and Bay Ridge Parkway.
